


What Works For Us

by Shatterpath



Series: Pyramid [4]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex gets a thrill out of her lover wearing her clothes, Alex honestly do you have any chill?, Alex is Kara's hero, Alex is a sappy romantic, Angst, Banter, Canon Dialogue, Canon Related, Counter Sex, Dating, Drinking, Emotional Roller Coaster, F/F, Friends as Family, Friendship, Heroes & Heroines, I love Maggie and hated hurting her!, Kara is tired of crushes, Kara outs herself, Maggie has her own story to tell, Motorcycles, Movie Night, Oh Kara..., Oral Sex, Shovel Talk, Sibling Bonding, Water Sex, but no one is really shocked by that are we?, drunk dailing, giggly Lena is my patronus, heartfelt confessions, oh those charming Danvers sisters, sweet and sexy, the Danvers sisters are the best part of their 'verse, unexpected relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-15 13:20:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 30,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9236861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatterpath/pseuds/Shatterpath
Summary: So, yeah, that really happened; a wild weekend Alex and Lena shared alongside the ocean. Now what?Alex and Lena struggle with the changes in relationships all around them, some strengthening and some shattering. Kara learns more about both of them then she thought she would and family and friends redefine themselves. There is truth in the coat of arms for the House of El: 'Stronger together'.Meanwhile the events of the Medusa Project are barreling down on them and will leave chaos in its wake.Runs Sunday, November 6th through the 28th





	1. Soulmate Confession

**Author's Note:**

> This picks up on the heels of 'Wrong Girl, Right Reasons'. This will be a more character heavy piece as the new couple fit themselves around their lives and their circle of friends.
> 
> Please note that the events of episodes 7 & 8 (The Darkest Place & Medusa) will effectively be identical, as I will not be rehashing the bulk of all of that. If you have not seen these episodes, you are going to be very, VERY lost. Also, in episode 6 (Changing) there is a very large gap between the guerrilla kiss, the ensuing emotional fallout and Mon-El being captured by Cadmus. A nearly 10 week gap according to my timeline.  
> EDIT: It turns out I used far more of episodes 7 & 8 than I thought I would, thanks to a website that posts up the closed captioning. I will add notes to the pertinent chapters.

The Ducati felt too light and her back too cold, leaving Alex to reflexively shiver in the open air. Real life felt jarring, like she was suddenly thrust into a 3D movie. Or she'd been in the movie and was suddenly dumped back into the mundane world. Or whatever.

Distracted, she took note of a self-serve car wash with real gratitude. Perfect. A brainless task to keep her hands busy while she got a grip. Choosing a stall, she piled all the gear near the trashcans to stay dry and fed the kiosk a credit card to peruse the menu. She bought two towels the machine spat into an exit slot, and ten minutes of wash time before stripping off her jacket and shoving her sleeves up. After a rinse and a heavy bubble bath, she paused the timer and took the first towel to the paint and chrome, ignoring the icy water and the too-cool air. 

The weekend away felt surreal, like an intense fire in brain and feelings and erogenous zones, a few of which she hadn't even known were erogenous zones! Grumbling at herself when she bashed her thumb into the carburetor at the memory of Lena's hair trailing over her skin, Alex rested her forehead against the side of the seat for a moment.

Her heart was pounding again.

The lava flow of memories made her blush, body overheated and ready once again. Dousing that fire was the awareness that she had to talk to Kara. And the more she put it off, the harder the conversation was going to go. Sighing, Alex put her hands back on the bike and finished washing away Santa Barbara.

The nondescript apartment complex swallowed her up and she pulled up to her garage to tap out a complicated code into her personal security system on the garage door. It was one of the biggest sellers of the place; her own two car garage tucked beneath the building along a long row of identical large doors. The extra cost of the space was worth it. Chrome and painted surfaces and tools glinted in the morning sun as the door rose and the Ducati grumbled into its place amid its cousins. The space was crowded and chaotic with two working motorcycles and one in the process of being rebuilt and enough parts to build several more if she were inclined.

"When I have time," Alex scoffed to herself, setting her helmet on the smaller KTM Duke she rode on the day to day and gathering up the rest of the gear. Up the elevator and through her front door, the apartment awaited her just as she left it, neat and familiar… and empty. 

Things weren't supposed to feel empty. She hadn't meant to get attached, to want more than learning what the hell the carnal burn under her skin really meant. Yet, she did indeed feel as though she were getting attached to the nascent emotions being woven to this unexpected friend, now lover. But somehow, Alex didn't feel threatened or backed into a corner by the fluttery little feelings, and that was a revelation in itself. That she'd asked for more than the carnal weekend still terrified and thrilled her.

Shoving aside all the memories and mixed emotions as best she could, Alex dumped the pair of saddlebags with Lena's helmet still clipped to one of them on the couch to be dealt with later. Striding into the bedroom, she stripped down to get in the shower and scrub off the drive and carwash… and the last of Lena Luthor. 

Not willing to linger in the shower and all the memories called up, she finished up quickly and climbed into her comfiest slumming clothes and fuzziest socks, before returning to the living room. Shoving the bags and helmet aside, she sat down to stare at her phone. "Suck it up, Danvers," she muttered and took a deep breath before hitting the buttons that connected her to the most important person in her world.

"Alex!" Kara greeted her with achingly familiar enthusiasm and Alex had to smile widely despite her nerves. There were many who found their soulmates in a partner borne of a romantic love. Alex had found hers in an orphan from the stars.

"Hey, Kara, still bored? This feels like a great night for some hot comfort food and some talking."

"This sounds a little serious." 

After some of the conversations they'd had in the last couple of months, Alex understood that odd note in her sister's voice.

"Well, you did say you want all the details." Alex had to tease and was warmed by the burst of Kara's laugh over the connection. "And yeah, maybe a little serious. And a lot weird, but I need to tell you anyway."

"Okay, give me an hour or so to wrap up what I'm doing and I'll be right over."

"Sounds good."

So Alex waited and tried to quiet her racing thoughts, playing and replaying Vickie's laugh, Susan's dedication, Astra's complexity, Lucy's smell, Maggie's smile, Lena's voice, a ragged little string of exes and one night stands that left her feeling like she was trying to breathe water, like she was drowning.

The knock on her door was welcome.

With a quiet, warm smile, Kara waited there, bags clustered around her feet, arms open. Breath hitching, Alex fell into the full-bodied hug, her otherworldly sister as mountainously solid as always. With everything that had been changing, the seismic shifts of self, Kara's very solidness was a blissful haven.

"I'm glad you're home, I missed you." Kara murmured, her loosely curled hands a comfort where they rested along Alex's flesh and bones. Kara avoided grabbing, avoided clenched fists and sudden moves, having learned years ago to be so very careful of her crushing strength and speed. That awareness was at its most acute here, hugging her most beloved person, for far too many of those lessons had been learned on Alex's frame. She was cupped hands and careful limbs, of being hyper-aware of her surroundings in an effort to do no harm, to pretend to react as though she were as Human as the masses.

"Me too," Alex whispered back, squeezing with a strength that would have choked someone born of this world. She could never match her adopted sister in brute force, but she could damn well make sure that her hugs were felt! When they separated, Kara gestured to the mobile feast and they gathered the bags up.

"Hot comfort food, as requested. Sit and I'll grab glasses."

Digging into the bags, Alex filched a couple of the ubiquitous potstickers and browsed the goodies until she decided on a carton of honey chicken.

"So did I miss anything interesting in the last few days?"

Halfway to sitting beside Alex, Kara shot her a weird look, the blue eyes flicking over the to the strange helmet and its flash of running flames before returning to her sister.

"No, not really. I spent yesterday morning 'reporting' an ugly Christmas sweater showing. It was the silliest thing I've ever seen."

Over dinner and conversation, they ignored the unspoken oddness that hung in the air like the fog along the coast that morning. Then the food was mostly gone and bottles of fruity soda emptied. Part of Alex had wanted the crutch of alcohol, but she needed sobriety for this.

"So, I drove out to Santa Barbara on a whim," she suddenly said, the tightness in her tone instantly alerting Kara that the serious and weird part of the evening had begun. Immediately she set aside the last of dinner and turned her whole body to pay attention. It was clear that Alex was fighting for words, though not with the brittle desperation of some of their more charged conversations of late.

"Most of the weekend seemed like nice weather for a drive."

Frustrated, Alex jumped up to pace for a moment before facing off with Kara where she remained quietly waiting on the couch. "Okay, I'm going to get this out of my system somehow, but you have to swear to me that you're just going to sit there and hear me out."

Puzzled and faintly alarmed, Kara grabbed a pillow to hold and nodded. "I promise."

"So weeks ago on game night, I wandered out to get some peace and quiet. It was the week after you idiots invaded me here. So, I was still smarting from what happened with Maggie, like a raw nerve, and it was driving me crazy. It was that first night you invited Lena over and we bumped into each other up on the roof and we got to… talking. It was nice, having a neutral party, y'know? And then later we all went out for sandwiches and yeah, I decided that you were indeed right about her. I trust your judgment and I think she's more than her name too. And it's pretty clear that she's clearly capable of, even naturally, gentle, no matter that her environment shaped her into something harder."

It clicked then, Kara's eyes widening, causing Alex's voice to halt abruptly. Over the phone last night, Kara had caught a wisp of sleepy, wordless sound, a low chuckle, unconsciously filing it all away in her memory.

"When I kissed Maggie and she turned me down, I initiated it," Alex said quietly, her voice raw. "But no woman had ever kissed me. Until that night on your roof."

For all her years beneath this hot yellow sun, Alex had been Kara's rock. This soul-rattling redefinition of self had reversed their roles a lot lately and Kara set aside her pillow and offered open arms. Breathing out shakily, Alex accepted the offer, curling up against her, drawing her legs up to her chest and leaning hard into Kara's warmth.

"It felt… good. Really good. And more like I could breathe, not so suffocated by all the emotional crap with Maggie." 

Her voice was still ragged on that name, was always a little ragged on that name, might forever be a little ragged on that name. Kara gave a little squeeze where she had draped loose arms around Alex and leaned their heads together.

"After sandwiches, I offered a bike trip, and it ended up being this long weekend away. Very impulsive, and you know I'm not the impulsive sort. Well, not about this sort of emotional crap anyway. But, god, Kara, I've felt like a complete stranger in my own skin for weeks and weeks and weeks now. Like I get a jumpscare every time some new thing comes up. Every time Maggie smiles, or Lucy laughs, or Susan gives me crap over the phone from the cave, it's a jolt. Perversely, even remembering facing off with Astra fills me up with all these conflicting emotions. Women are like foreign entities now, I can barely interact sometimes. Small favors that strangers don't seem to twist me up so much; I guess I need an emotional connection. Who knew?"

Breathing hard with the effort of the verbal upchuck, Alex paused and did her best to calm herself down a bit, relaxing into the loose embrace. Eyes closed, she pressed her face to Kara's shoulder.

"I didn't know that I could ever be comfortable with this, with being gay. Sure, I get that I'm attracted to women, but what the hell did that mean? Going out and finding some… stranger to… experiment with sounded no better than what I've always done, even if the plumbing was different. I didn't want to get… used by any more strangers."

Heart aching, Kara tightened her hold, shifting to curl more closely to her sister's hunched back.

"And Lena was just so damn… nice to me. It was almost bizarre, like a language I've never spoken before."

A change came over Alex then, the coiled stress easing like a fist slowly unclenched. 

"So she found this fancy resort and we just hung out and I got to surf, and the food was surreal and we kissed and… well, yeah."

The embarrassment of details left thankfully unsaid was there, but both did their best to ignore it. After a long moment, Alex turned her head to peer at Kara as best she could through the wavy fall of her own hair.

"Are you going to say anything?" The question was quiet and vulnerable, laced with stress and amusement, to which Kara gave her a dry look.

"You ordered me to wait until you were done."

And Alex burst out laughing, despite herself.


	2. Soulmate Confession, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Settling in for a few minutes of processing, the women were reminded of endless nights of bonding just as they were doing now. Teenage girls figuring out one another and the world around them, forging an unbreakable bond with time and care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here is a sort of extra scene, completing the sister's initial talking things out. The scene that will follow needed to be on its own, so you get this short piece while I wrestle with what is to come!
> 
> It was very interesting and rewarding to touch on Kara's alienness here and I look forward to more to come. By its very nature, visual media cannot portray certain things as well as words and vice versa.

The laughter felt good, like pressure being released, and she hugged Kara's arms to her tightly.

"I did, didn't I?" For another long moment, quiet hovered over them before Alex spoke up again, voice teary. "Thank you. For everything."

"Alex, I'm your sister and I love you. You can always come to me, even when you're being weird."

Amused and relieved, the sisters fell quiet for long moments, soaking up their closeness. When Kara inhaled to speak, Alex braced herself.

"Did you really… sleep with my-- well, our-- friend?"

The tentative inquiry was laced with exasperated amusement and Alex huffed out a watery chuckle. "I really did. And I absolutely do not regret it, except that I've made things weird. A stupid, immature part of me wanted to lie to you so, so badly. But I don't ever want to lie to you again."

"It's only weird that it's unexpected. Lena's likeable, or I wouldn't have made the effort to befriend her in the first place."

"I asked her out on a proper date too," Alex blurted out and shook her head at herself. It was another revelation that left Kara startled all over again. "The sane, dispassionate part of my brain still can't fathom why the hell I asked, and it was impulsive as hell, but I did indeed ask her out."

"And?" Kara asked tentatively and Alex rubbed her forehead, her expression hidden.

"And she said yes."

"So… it's a thing then." Unsurprisingly, Kara sounded quiet and thoughtful, but at least she wasn't actively upset. Alex would take what she could get at this point, what with her emotional life being in chaos for the last few months. "What about Maggie?"

No matter how gently Kara asked it, Alex flinched and swallowed hard around the lump in her throat and the itchy burn of tears. There were so many conflicting feelings still boiling on that front, so much choking intensity that part of Alex desperately wanted to just avoid and deflect. But this was Kara, and the only person she could be completely honest with.

Taking a deep, shaking breath, Alex searched for words, her voice soft and thick. "My heart still whines and cries for Maggie, I admit it. But when my head can get in a word in edgewise, logically, I can see the value in what happened. This waiting and finding a less… loaded way to get to know myself. Who knew I'd find someone else along the way." 

Twisting her head a bit to meet those soft blue eyes, Alex soaked up the warmth there, both of them snerking with the slightly uncomfortable tension of things better left unsaid. Then Alex leaned into her with her whole weight and sighed deeply. 

"But, yeah, still some heart and head arguing happening."

Settling in for a few minutes of processing, the women were reminded of endless nights of bonding just as they were doing now. Teenage girls figuring out one another and the world around them, forging an unbreakable bond with time and care.

"There are days when the Codex would just make things so much easier."

The comment was so out of left field that there was no chance for Alex to stop the belly laugh that burst out of her, a wave of merriment that went on and on until she was exhausted with it. Bemused, Kara was nonetheless delighted with the reaction, how Alex sprawled out on her lap.

"It wasn't that funny," she teased to wring out a few more chuckles, feeling the muscles flex around the sound where she rested one hand lightly on Alex's belly.

"Yeah, it was. And I can't say you're wrong. This sexuality and relationship stuff is a pain in the ass."

"But a little rewarding too? I really like this new you, so much more open and emotional."

"Flatterer," Alex teased warmly. "It's not a wonder everyone always gets a crush on you. You're amazing."

The faintly aghast look on Kara's face earned another round of chuckles.

"Everyone does not always get a crush on me."

"Uh, yeah, they really do."

Kara looked almost alarmed. "Not Lena too!"

"Duh. And was that an odd conversation, believe me. But we managed-- hey, what's wrong?" The emotional shift was instant, Alex's protective instincts roaring to the forefront. Staring off to some distant place in her mind's eye, Kara looked a little upset, but more woefully… resigned. Not at all the reaction Alex would have expected.

"Sometimes I wish I could just make a friend without feeling like I'm just waiting to get crushed on yet again."

Still a little puzzled at the sudden shift in the conversation, Alex kept her tone calm and even. "You're very likeable, Kara."

"Yeah, but it makes me feel like others only want me for… that. I think I've learned to ignore it in hopes that it won't happen, and it constantly catches me off guard."

Only then did Alex fully realize that her sister was authentically upset by the subject. Instantly, she half sat up to wrap her arms around broad shoulders. A mere Human might find supporting her entire torso fatiguing, but Kara barely noticed the pull. "I never knew you felt that way."

Squirming at the gentle tone, Kara couldn't meet her eyes, picking fitfully at her sleeve. "I-- I don't know if I really realized it until just now either."

With pure upper body strength, Alex hoisted herself to get both arms fully around Kara's neck, that impossibly strong body unyielding as granite for the moment. "Y'know, you don't get a whole lot of chances to be just yourself. You always have to be a cape or a pair of glasses, a role or a purpose. Maybe that can be a good New Year's resolution, to get to know yourself. Like I said, you're very likable."

"You have to like me, I'm your sister," Kara deflected, not yet ready to relent.

"No, Kara, that's just it. I don't have to like you because I'm your sister. Lots of people can't stand their siblings. I like you for you. I pretty much always have, being a jerk of a teenager aside."

Feeling that unyielding body ease was a thrill that never ceased to amaze Alex. Sniffling, Kara collapsed into the embrace, even curling up her legs so that Alex was caught there, in her loving steel trap. Comfortable with one another's familiar closeness, they rested peacefully for some time until Alex squirmed a bit and Kara let up on the close hug.

"So, we're good?"

Kara smiled a little wobbily and leaned in to lightly touch her forehead to Alex's. "Yeah, we're good. You're probably still full, but I could really use some ice cream."

"Done!" Alex enthused, doling out a final hug as Kara's grip relaxed completely and she jumped up to head for the kitchen. "I meant what I said, y'know. I know you love those rom-coms and all, but you do realize that it's not an actual goal? You can be whatever you want."

"I'm letting it all sink in, yes." Twisting to watch Alex busy collecting spoons and several cartons of ice cream, Kara was grateful once again to a sometimes cold universe for bringing her to the Danvers and this amazing woman who had become her sister and soulmate. "Thank you, Alex, for telling me all of this, but seriously, what do you have against a good rom-com?"

Once again, Alex's laughter warmed the space.


	3. Friendly Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You came by to give me the shovel talk," Lena marveled, torn between horrified fascination and wanting to laugh hysterically. What was her life now? How could only two people make such an immediate and devastating impact? They were wrecking balls of a overpowering charisma neither seemed at all aware of, but seemed to leave something stronger in their wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I really struggled with this chapter, but I like the end result. Is it exactly what I wanted? Not by a longshot, but it fits what has come before and after. Go figure it took the dark, early morning hours of Friday the 13th to get this scene finished up. I was just wrapping up the first draft when I noticed the date and cracked up.

On Tuesday when Kara texted, Lena was legitimately up to her eyelashes in company chaos and had to regretfully pass on the offer for lunch. But she had no excuse on Wednesday to not reach out, staring pensively at the text message.

How awkward would things be? Lena acknowledged that she had been fascinated with the pretty reporter from the start, but there had always been a line they had never crossed. Looking back, Lena wasn't entirely certain that Kara had even been aware of that line. Only because of the perception of the curious flirting being unrequited had Lena taken up with the curiosity Alex had radiated like heat from a fire.

And she certainly had no complaints about how that had turned out!

The shock of the date invitation still gave her a thrilling little twist of delight every time her mind wondered what she was getting herself into. Since Alex had asked, Lena was happy to leave herself in the good agent's hands unless asked for input. She could figure out something for the next one, because she genuinely hoped it wouldn't be the last. 

Memories flitted through her at random moments, often without warning, leaving smiles or flustered nerves in their wake. It left Lena desperately wishing that she had someone to call and talk with.

As though conjured by her thoughts, the doors to her office quietly clicked open and Jess was there with a paper food carton in her hand. "Are you ready for lunch?"

Refocused abruptly, Lena nodded. "You're a bit early today."

"I didn't have to wait for delivery."

Lena was barely surprised when Kara stepped around her, expression unreadable. "Don't forget your latte, Jess."

"Oh, right, umm, thank you… Kara."

Quirking a grin, Jess retreated with her coffee and lunch box, leaving Kara standing by the door with that same strange look on her face. It was a bit jangling, to be honest. Kara was usually all energy, at least talking if not physically active. Her stillness in contrast was striking.

"Lunch?" Kara asked quietly, rustling the bag in her left hand. Faint savory smells were wafting towards Lena and she swallowed hard, not merely from the riot of nerves brought in with Kara herself.

"Of course, just give me a few minutes to wrap up what I'm doing."

Nodding, the reporter went to the white couch and its accompanying low table while Lena forced her attention back to what she had been working on. The budget numbers blurred to visual noise and she quickly pushed them away. Time to pay her friend the attention she deserved, no matter how loaded the whole situation felt.

It was Cal-Mex today, warm meats and beans and veg in one container and a big tortilla bowl of crisp lettuce waiting to be dressed up as she saw fit. Kara was already crunching away at her own, so Lena took the hint and fortified herself with a hearty meal.

"Thank you for feeding Jess as well."

With the salad gone, Lena was mostly just fiddling with the heavier bits left at the bottom. Delicious to be sure, but she needed to get more work done at some point, not fall asleep at her desk.

"My pleasure. I was her for years." The teasing smirk thrown her way felt like a lifeline to Lena. "Though I suspect you're not nearly as demanding as Cat Grant."

Lena scoffed with quiet humor. "No, I suppose not, but I'll never accomplish what she did, either."

"Hey, you've got all this, don't you?"

"Sure, but I didn't build it from scratch. I took over the helm, as it were."

That gave Kara pause, her busy mind filing that away.

"Do you like the work?"

The unexpected question was half blunt curiosity and half nosy reporter. Pure reflex to protect herself hardened Lena in a blink, the shift subtle and implacable from crown to toes. Kara caught it, knew it well, saw it in Alex when she would blink from sweet and protective sister to ice-cold badass, saw it in herself when she put on that sacred crest.

It was Kara that backed down this time, relaxing her own body language and speaking quietly. "I'm sorry, that wasn't me fishing for a lead, Lena. It's just, for all that we seem to be… friendly, I don't feel I really know you all that well."

On the heels of the flinch the words caused, Lena took a deep breath and did her best to shove away deeply ingrained hurts. There was some truth to the statement, but there was hope there too. After all, didn't Kara keep coming back? Hadn't she given of herself? Wasn't that was friendship was all about?

Dropping her gaze to restless hands toying with her fork, Lena struggled with words, tried to just let them fall out. "There are many days I don't think anyone knows me very well at all, including myself. Honestly, I think you know me better than anyone, because you really look."

"It runs in the family," Kara said simply, the oddest edge in her voice, and Lena hesitated before looking back at her. There was truly something different about the reporter today, something almost familiar that Lena couldn't quite put her finger on. A sense of stillness, of… holding back somehow. It was reminiscent of those flashes of menace that she had seen in Alex, of seeing the danger filed away in the parts of her Lena did not know at all. That Lena might never know.

But this was Kara; sweet, talkative Kara.

Then it clicked.

"You came by to give me the shovel talk," Lena marveled, torn between horrified fascination and wanting to laugh hysterically. What was her life now? How could only two people make such an immediate and devastating impact? They were wrecking balls of an overpowering charisma neither seemed at all aware of, though for all their destruction, they always left something stronger in their wake.

The riot of confused emotion that ran rampant all over Kara's face would have been hilarious under less charged circumstances. Puzzlement and cold calculation gave way to thoughtfulness and a blast of wide-eyed, consternated shock.

"Oh no, that wasn't it at all! Though… I guess I could finally get to do that." For a moment she looked as eager as a puppy, but shook it off. "So yeah, be nice or else. She's my sister and I love her more than anyone and she deserves all the best in life."

Startled at the heated vehemence, Lena weakly tried to deflect. "Oh, it's not like that, Kara, I…"

But she paused, as much at the emotional twang in her own soul as the half threatening and half exasperated glare thrown her way. There was a hard knot of tension in her throat and an ache behind her eyes that Lena didn't quite know what to do with. The look of adoring understanding on Kara's face only twisted up her high emotion further.

"Yeah, she has that sort of effect on everyone and she never, ever sees it." Kara said so very gently, understanding better than anyone. A bit overwhelmed in that moment, Lena somewhat desperately tried to deflect.

"So do you. What is it Al said? Something about you two coming with a warning?"

Kara huffed a humorless laugh, knowing that Lena had the right of it even without a full disclaimer of everything that made up the Danvers sisters.

"You don't know the half of it." There was no missing the strain in Kara's voice, but neither pointed it out Kara cleared her throat uncomfortably and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Alex told me you might have had a little crush on me."

Honestly, she could have slapped herself. Lena almost looked like she had been.

"I'm sorry about the breach in trust. She was tired and wrung out emotionally and we try not to keep secrets from each other."

That truly drove home what Lena had gotten herself into with these two. Get one and you got both, with few boundaries or privacies. It was bizarre and jarring and as addictive as a drug, so opposite to Lena's experiences of life that they might as well be from another world.

So, she fought down a lifetime of deflection, of protecting herself from hurts big and small, of icy disdain and loss, and left herself vulnerable.

"I'm sorry to have made things awkward. I should have told you myself."

"I don't know how I would have responded. I'm not good with relationships. Not… those kinds anyway."

Lena cursed the suffocating physical trappings of femininity in that moment, desperate to scrub her hands over her face to chase back some of the high emotion of this whole conversation. But she couldn't mess up the careful paint of her delicate armor, for there would still be a day of work on the heels of this upheaval. So she swallowed hard and tried not to grit her teeth as she spoke. "I didn't want to, well, make things awkward. Which has unfortunately happened anyway."

Kara shrugged, in that moment seeming to be little more than an uncomfortable child. Those sweet blue eyes were as soulful and liquid as a puppy's when she looked back up from her own knees.

"But… do you still like me?"

The rush of relieved affection washed over Lena. Really, the universe had broken the mold with the Danvers girls.

"Oh, Kara, I always liked you, right from the start, and that has nothing to do with my little crush. Could we still be friends? I'd hate myself if I messed that up."

And Kara smiled, a warm little quirk of that expressive mouth, and Lena wanted to sob in relief. When Kara's body language eased and she started to reach out, Lena would never remember moving, and she was wrapped up in a smothering hug.

"Yes, we can absolutely still be friends."

Lena was barely aware of breathing out a 'thank you' as she clung back. With cosmically perfect timing, the mobile phone over on Lena's desk lit up and made a funny noise like a big cat yowling. Still wrapped up in their hug, there was no way Kara missed how Lena stilled and then tensed slightly at the sound.

"Go ahead," Kara invited and loosened her grip. "I'm not going anywhere."

Both reluctant and eager, Lena nodded and shifted away, walking on shaky legs to her desk to tap at the device. For all of Kara's own doubts and conflicted feelings, they were chased back by the slow, sweet smile that swept over Lena's face. There was something so open and honest about the expression, her clear delight and girlish shyness. It was there only moments before the green eyes flickered over and things were awkward once more, but Kara saw it all, stored it away in her memories. 

"Alex?" Kara asked knowingly and was completely delighted by the light blush that crawled up Lena's neck and ears.

Sitting back down, Lena set the phone down and leaned back. She was trying to be nonchalant, but her tension was obvious, though this tension felt easier somehow, a positive thing. If Kara had been worried the tangle of confusing feelings were one-sided, she wasn't now. Just as Alex had been nervous and jumpy and clearly emotionally affected, so was Lena.

"I… wasn't expecting to be so charmed, I admit it. Your sister, she's… pretty amazing."

Glad to be on familiar ground, Kara grinned at the admission. "Oh, you don't have to convince me that Alex is amazing. I'm first in line for that cheering squad."

After a moment of making a funny face, Lena leaned forward and grabbed her phone to unlock it and hand it over. 

_We seem to have good luck with Saturdays. How about that ride?_

Ignoring the suggestive hints in the text's phrasing, Kara noted something else and flashed Lena a curiously raised eyebrow.

"Agent Tiger?"

The blush flared back up again and Lena gestured helplessly at the phone. "A nickname I half-jokingly bestowed and it's… stuck. I assure you, she punched the name in herself."

Kara remembered them trading phones at lunch weeks ago and couldn't stop the bubble of laughter that escaped her. "Dork," she murmured affectionately and handed the phone back with a grin. "Are you coming by for game night?"

Lena was so, so tempted. She really did like the whole crazy gang of random game night attendees, but she was still feeling so jangled by this whole emotional experience. So Kara let her off the hook.

"It's okay. Next time. Take care of yourself?"

And again, Lena was floored by that simple regard for her well-being. When Kara stood and offered a hand, Lena accepted and was tugged to her feet. Giving her hand and the opposite shoulder a little squeeze, Kara then grabbed her things and headed out without a word.

So they went their separate ways, things still feeling a bit strained, but not irreparably so. Lena shakily asked Jess to reschedule the next hour of her day and laid out on the couch with one arm tossed over her eyes. The chaos the sisters had brought into her life was jarring, almost maddening, the sensation like a sustained adrenaline rush. Yet, she relished it, felt more alive than she ever had before.

She had a feeling the ride had only just begun.


	4. What I Would Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena's delighted laughter carried through the cool, damp air as a commercial began playing, larger than life. Neither of them paid the slightest attention, too caught up in greeting one another properly. Warm hands and lips, the sweet, womanly scents familiar and foreign, it was almost enough to completely derail both, but Alex finally leaned away from the scorching kisses. Her smile took away any rejection and Lena's pout nearly drove her back in, but she contented herself with tracing that enticing mouth with a gentle fingertip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I began this tale on the day Debbie Reynolds passed away, the movie choice is indeed a direct homage to her. And Los Angeles/National City is the sort of place that could actually have a movie setup like this. Not many places could. Griffith Park is a perfect spot for it. If you're ever in LA, go explore that odd wild space, it's a fascinating contrast to the urban density that surrounds it like water around an island.

Ten minutes early, Alex pulled into the parking garage she felt as though she'd only just left. Like the fancy fort of a condo complex, the guard duo on duty checked over her credentials before diverting her away from the more public areas into a side alcove clearly meant for deliveries and maintenance. She would never admit that she spent the next ten minutes a twitchy ball of nerves as much from expecting an ambush as waiting for her date. To ease her jumpy instincts, she restarted the engine and kept the Ducati's weight balanced with her feet rather than the kickstand, ready to spring away on a moment's notice. Still, when a nearby door banged open, she reflexively flinched and went into DEO mode for a moment before she took in Lena's wide smile.

For her part, Lena took in the hunting predator menace of Alex's body before she gentled, those dark eyes easing where they were framed by the open faceplate of the helmet. Silently, they watched one another as Lena sauntered over, her smile growing ever sweeter, edged in shyness.

"Hey, Al."

Deeply brown eyes crinkling gave away the hidden smile. "Hey, Lee. Good to see you again."

The words might be neutral, but the tone was anything but. Each admired the other, dressed for warmth with curves hidden away enticingly. Reaching back to unclip the running-flames helmet, Alex fiddled with it for a moment before handing it over.

"I took the liberty of putting a comm in your helmet. It's pretty fancy, so we can be reasonably certain of privacy."

"I like the way you think," Lena purred, slipping into the helmet and somewhat awkwardly climbing half over Alex to get settled on her perch, the familiar saddlebags not helping. Not minding the jostling in the slightest, Alex merely leaned onto the high gas tank and kept the machine balanced until Lena settled. Their bodies remembered the way of it, Alex relaxed and alert while Lena clung to her and did her best to keep their helmets from interfering with one another. Smoothly pulling away from the loading area, Alex headed away from the L-Corp building and into the city chaos. "I'm glad to see you again."

"Me too," Alex answered just as quietly, pleased with the clarity of the tiny mic and speakers and the little squeeze of Lena's encircling arms. "So, how does a classic sound?"

"A classic what?"

"Date, of course."

"What do you have in store for me?" The suggestive undertone did not escape Alex's notice and she felt her whole body flush and tighten. A convenient red light let her sit back, pressing back into Lena's softness.

"A movie. With a little bit of a twist that goes with riding a motorcycle."

"Sounds lovely. You haven't steered me wrong yet, Tiger."

There were so many layers to that loaded comment.

With it being a Saturday, traffic was scattered more evenly across National City, flowing with the stop and start intensity of a busy ant colony. They zigzagged down city streets until the roads narrowed and became twisted and steep. Past fancy old houses that looked almost out of place in Southern California, the terrain turned wild, raw and mountainous, the half-dark city a jeweled tapestry stretching out in all directions.

"Where are we?" Lena asked in awe of the view.

"This is Griffith Park, a big, hilly, wild spot in the middle of the city. The zoo and observatory and some concert venues and museums are all throughout here. But I found-- well really, it was Kara and Winn, but I'll steal the credit-- something really interesting. And the cooler weather got us tickets, which would have been impossible if it was summer."

"Reservation only, huh?"

"Limited space and this is one of those 'in' things to do right now."

They were on top of it before either even realized they were there. A bored college student checked Alex's reservation and handed her a clip to leave on the bike as proof of payment and a heavy placard boldly marked '4'. Lena held onto that while they fell into a line of cars and a few other motorcycles that seemed to be placidly driving right off a cliff. It turned out to be nothing so melodramatic, the steep, narrow road snaking over to a great, natural bowl in the mountainside where rough terraces had been carved into the earth.

"It's a drive-in!" Lena marveled as they were separated from the cars by flashlight-wielding employees, waved off to the center where the squat projector building was. There were a cluster of large round bed/lounges with arching canopies to protect the patrons within from weather and most prying eyes. The screen loomed enormous against the cloudy sky over the glowing city and the whole facility was cradled by towering pines.

"I think Winn was more jealous that I got tickets for this than he was that I had a date," Alex chuckled and Lena echoed the sound.

"How did you get them if it's so hard?"

"Kara was Cat Grant's personal assistant for more than two years. You'd be surprised what she can track down."

Each of the basketlike bed/loungers was clearly marked with a number and Alex came to rest beside 4. Lena took the placard over to where a bright little light illuminated a control panel and followed the instructions to slot the thing into the indicated opening, activating speakers and a couple of small lights in the canopy.

"This is a really clever setup. You're something else, Tiger."

Flashing a grin, Alex set aside one saddlebag and yanked out an armload of fuzzy fabric from the other.

"You even brought blankets. You really are good."

Flushing from the throaty compliment, Alex flicked the larger, thinner blanket over the white surface of the bed and stacked pillows, tossing the other one off to one side. She startled when a hand grabbing her arm distracted her, but not as much as the hot, open-mouthed kiss that drove every other thought out of her mind. Little, yappy, insistent doubts that had been nagging her fled as she helplessly responded to her lover, their bodies eager and welcoming.

"I've wanted to do that since the loading dock," Lena whispered, her lips a supple tease, and Alex blinked somewhat stupidly, her voice gone high and breathy in response. 

"Wow… I could get used to that."

"Well, you can. And we are."

That goofy, sweet grin was enough to melt Lena's heart.

The stream of cars had fallen into a trickle as the evening sky faded into night. With a half-blinding blaze of white light, the enormous movie screen came to life, prodding the audience to begin settling in. With a quick smooch, Lena let Alex go and clambered into the round bed to make herself comfortable. Shaking herself out into some semblance of not being a bamboozled idiot, Alex almost forgot the other saddlebag, but managed to grab it before following her date.

"This is really comfy," Lena marveled and squirmed around like a curious cat, commandeering Alex's muscled torso when she flopped down beside her. "You're better. If I had a bigger balcony I'd get me one of these."

Despite the lovely distraction of the embrace, Alex couldn't resist being a smartass. "Well, I do have a day job."

Lena's delighted laughter carried through the cool, damp air as a commercial began playing, larger than life. Neither of them paid the slightest attention, too caught up in greeting one another properly. Warm hands and lips, the sweet, womanly scents familiar and foreign, it was almost enough to completely derail both, but Alex finally leaned away from the scorching kisses. Her smile took away any rejection and Lena's pout nearly drove her back in, but she contented herself with tracing that enticing mouth with a gentle fingertip.

"I had to sign a disclaimer for no booze or sex on the premise. How many cars do you think will get thrown out before the movie is over?"

Halfway to straddling Alex's lap, Lena chuckled and instead fell into a relaxed slouch at her side. "If anyone has a date as tempting as you? A lot."

"Flatterer," Alex demurred but her smile was shyly pleased.

With a little squirming around and giggling and getting the second blanket tossed over their legs, the couple settled in. The saddlebag turned out to contain a pair of thermoses, one of coffee and one with hot-ish chocolate, as well as a tumble of little plastic dishes of finger foods. As she had been right from the start, Lena was utterly charmed by the care showered on her, the simple effort of food and drink and time.

They nibbled at the rainbow of fruit and veggie and cheese and cold meats, sipped at hot chocolate and laughed when the original preview for Grease played, the ending changed to 'coming in December 2016'. That was followed by a 'special rerelease' of the modern classic, Pitch Perfect, now reformatted for the digital age! 

"Very clever," Lena laughed. "No wonder this has become popular. What are we watching, anyway?"

For a moment, Alex didn't answer, pleasantly distracted. "Um. Singin' In the Rain."

"You didn't strike me as the musical sort."

"I didn't care what the movie was, I just wanted to spend time with you."

It was so matter-of-fact, so disarmingly honest, that Lena felt like the air had been punched out of her.

They missed the first little bit of the movie after that.

**{I shouldn't be so amused that my original word count after that final sentence-- and including my note about Debbie Reynolds-- was 1,666.}**

 

\----

"That was fun," Lena giggled and stretched like a cat as the crowd of vehicles and people came back to life with the end of the film and the activation of the streetlights scattered about. "I could easily learn to enjoy this dating thing."

Sweetly amused at the sensual display, Alex puzzled out the comment. "You've been on dates before, c'mon."

Lena made a so-so gesture. "Boarding school was rules and structure and finding out how to get around them, and college was too damn busy and the rules and structure were second nature by then. I took a few months to go a little nuts after graduating, but it was like a very long weekend furlough, my behavior no different than the times I'd skirt the rules. The family business has been my soul and heartbeat ever since."

The very matter-of-fact delivery of the statement said so much about Lena and Alex found herself drawing parallels between them. That unwavering dedication to something so much larger than themselves, no matter how much pain it might cause them.

"You are a very pleasant disruption to my orderly life, Al."

Alex thought of the body count shackled to the last name Lena would never escape, the xenophobia, the madness, the assassins and danger and death. And how Lena did her damnest to push back. If it was an act, it was a hell of a good one and Alex shooed away the image of Clark's horrified face from her mind's eye.

"It was just snacks and a movie," Alex demurred and Lena reached up to trace her right brow.

"No, it's been much more than that."

Eventually a bobbing flashlight interrupted them, the impatient employee not even having to say a word as Lena rolled off the lounge with feline grace and girlish giggle, Alex hot on her heels. In a matter of seconds, the blankets were stowed, the saddlebags clipped into place and the women mounted up on the rumbling Ducati, its back tire spitting gravel as it spun. They were both laughing all the way back to the main road, feeling naughty and wound up and ready for whatever came next.

"Can we see more of the city lights?" Lena asked in an excited, little sister cajoling tone that made Alex grin at the unexpected familiarity. "I know we should call it a night, but I'm full of adrenaline now and the glimpses just weren't enough!"

"You got it, babe, hang on."

What little traffic there was in the park was mostly going downhill, so Alex was able to put on a little bit of speed as they wound their way higher. Unsurprisingly, they found themselves at the famous Griffith Park Observatory and made due with the view at the hairpin turn at the foot of the dramatic art deco installation. With the bike idling and Alex's strong legs balancing the combined mass of steel and flesh, they admired the twinkling carpet of lights that blazed in fierce defiance of the night.

"It's beautiful. Do you think we could come back here at a more decent hour one day?" Lena asked softly where she was snuggled into Alex's back. 

"Absolutely. But for now, we should warm up."

"Come back to my place?" Lena asked gently, not wanting to pressure. "I'll ensure you get up and off to your day whenever you need to."

The invitation promised little sleep, but the soft brush of thumbs against Alex's belly promised it would be worth it.


	5. Take Me Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With a solid foreknowledge of how the evening would probably go, Alex had dressed accordingly. Her best date underwear had been practically dusty with disuse, but it was worth the effort to get that hot look. Not to mention the roving hands tracing the smooth fabric and lace. They remembered the way of it, bodies eager for the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, in peaceful protest of the travesty that America is being subjected to today, may I present… -drum roll- GIRLSMUT.
> 
> Booya.

There was a bit of confusion at Lena's condo complex, as she'd never had to deal with housing a vehicle there; having none of her own and no overnight visitors. The concierge-- and Alex tried not to boggle at that-- was quick to get them settled and on their way. The place had all the hallmarks of a fancy hotel, but with permanent state of the art security. Both women kept their hands to themselves, knowing there were electronic eyes everywhere, though Alex did boldly tuck a couple of fingers into Lena's back pocket, relishing the hiss of indrawn breath.

Near the top, the doors opened and Lena strode out with a certain urgency to her step. Feeling smug to have had a hand in that, Alex followed at a more leisurely pace, noting there were three doors in the foyer, though hallways wrapped around the central elevator shaft probably led to more units. Then a keypad and a thumb-scanner and a shuffle of feet had the lovers in the privacy of Lena's condo. Not that Alex got more than a glance of a sprawling space, elegantly decorated in grays and creams with splashes of color, before Lena had shoved her into the closed door.

Drunk and rendered stupid and trying too hard, Alex had experienced this sort of urgent encounter, but like many firsts with this unexpected lover, this was the first time she was truly eager. The thickly warm leather jacket was not the same one Alex had worn on the roadtrip, and while it was attractive on her slim frame, Lena hated it at the moment. The zipper was heavy and dragged at the leather edges.

Feeling entirely smug and certainly urgent from a week apart and all the making out at the theater, Alex drank up the impatient sound her lover growled. "Hey," she murmured, cupping Lena's strong jaw in her hands. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Sorry," Lena sighed, falling into Alex's stronger body, snuggling in, tucking her nose into the jacket's collar.

"No need to apologize. Try that zipper again."

With the burn of urgency banked, Lena seemed almost shy, leaning back to work down the annoying zipper and get at the warm curves beneath. As much as Alex liked the bulky sweater that had wrapped Lena so warmly all night, she eagerly stripped it off, taking the tank top beneath as well.

"Never thought I'd appreciate girlie underthings so much."

The lusty comment made Lena chuckle throatily and back away, taking Alex's hands to lead her into the airy condo. "You just needed to see them on someone else. Though you would look amazing all dolled up."

"Yeah?"

The soft knit shirt clinging to Alex's strong frame joined the trail of discarded clothes and Lena halted Alex's forward progress with an imperiously raised hand. "I see I'm not the only one with a pleasant surprise. You look beautiful, Tiger."

With a solid foreknowledge of how the evening would probably go, Alex had dressed accordingly. Her best date underwear had been practically dusty with disuse, but it was worth the effort to get that hot look. Not to mention the roving hands tracing the smooth fabric and lace. They remembered the way of it, bodies eager for the other.

Abruptly, Alex left off slow kisses to tip her date into the big bed, earning a higher-pitched giggle than she'd thought that deep voice could make. Propping herself onto her elbows, Lena watched Alex crouch with effortless balance to work off her boots and socks. As a great many people were weird about their feet, she sufficed with long, tender strokes over the bones and tendons so close to the surface of ankles and lower calf, making Lena shiver with reaction.

"Hedonist," she complimented softly and dropped flat to wrestle her pants loose so that Alex could strip them away.

"I seem to have picked up this strange appreciation for the female form," Alex murmured between little kisses as she ran nose and lips up the curves and hollows of Lena's legs, enjoying the flex and relax of reaction to her touch. Rubbing her cheeks over the soft material of the black panties, Alex chuckled at the eruption of shivers and the throaty noise she remembered well as her own bobbed hair drifted over Lena's sensitive belly.

"You like that spot."

Smug as hell over that breathless tone, Alex shifted her caresses to said spot, flashing teeth in the hint of a bite. "Yeah, I do. But you like it better."

Banter was rendered mute for a bit as Alex stripped her lover and practiced her neophyte oral skills to noisy approval. Pleased with her handiwork and the savory taste of sex swamped over taste and smell, Alex levered herself to her feet, shaking feeling back into her limbs and looking insufferably pleased with herself. Sated and still trembling with the ambush, Lena couldn't fault her. For a newbie so nervous she had been on the verge of pulling a muscle, this easygoing version of Alex was delicious contrast. Not that Lena had doubted she would adapt fast. There was something in the way she carried herself, the alert glint in those eyes that bespoke her competence and adaptability. It was heady stuff to watch.

"I suppose I should have let you actually climb properly into the bed, huh?" Alex teased, leaning over her lover to nuzzle at her fair skin.

"Oh yes, poor me, happily ravaged at the edge of the bed. The indignity, the humanity."

The lighthearted sarcasm did its job, eliciting Alex's infectious laugh. When Lena lazily waved a hand, Alex took the hint and tugged her to unsteady feet, both of them falling into an easy embrace. Without even being truly aware of the movement, they swayed together, enjoying the closeness.

"Would you go dancing with me sometime?"

Alex paused for a moment at the soft question, before looping her arms more closely around Lena's frame, gone faintly tense in response to her own moment of stillness. "Yeah, that sounds great. My schedule's going to be a mess until after New Years, but I hope we can manage a little overlap in free time."

"Me too. So, I should take advantage of you while I can then?"

"Well, y'know, if you want," Alex pretended to be blasé, despite the naked woman in her arms, chuckling as she was spun around and shoved onto the bed.

"Brat."

They were both just fine with little conversation after that.

\----

Lena did not often consciously dream, as though her mind were protecting her from the inevitable nightmares. But with some positive things to dwell on, her unconsciousness sifted memories of her attentive lover, of reverent kisses and endlessly curious hands roving over every inch of her skin. Her Tiger was a restless creature, enervated by lovemaking rather than tired by it and she enjoyed pouring all the restless energy into pleasures. So when Lena woke, languorous and warm, she was suffused with wants as much of heart as body. 

It took a sleepy moment to realize that she was alone. 

"Al?"

Even to her own ears, she sounded small and vulnerable, an unexpected emotional jolt proving how much she missed Alex's presence curled around her. There was something so infectious about the woman, so serious on the surface, so warm and loving just below that stoic armor.

The funk creeping up around Lena's weary heart paused when she noticed the hallway light was on and her bedroom door left open a crack. That was something she would never do.

The surge of relief was something she dared not look at too closely.

Not bothering to cover up, she padded out, squinting in the harsh light, and listened for the sounds of her missing lover. It turned out her first guess was accurate, the faint hum of machinery giving away where Alex had gotten to. Beyond what a stranger would assume was the door to a second bedroom, lay a sweet sight.

"I see you found one of my favorite spots."

Jerking as though shot at the unexpected voice, Alex was halfway out of the churning water before sinking back down. "You scared the hell out of me, Lee."

Barely repentant, Lena sauntered over, loose-hipped and enticing, soaking up the way Alex's eyes went ever darker with want.

"This was one of the best sales points of the complex," Lena mused conversationally as she moved to stand beside the enormous swim spa. For the first time, she truly appreciated the extra time and expense of the bench built against the pool's long side to step up onto. "They let me modify the layout before completing the floor. Reinforced the superstructure, put in double doors and a separate air system to deal with the humidity, etcetera."

Trailing a single fingertip across Alex's shoulders elicited a delicious shudder.

"What was lonely little me going to do with a spare bedroom? I already have a small office should I need it, with an amazing view of National City. This room is closed off, private, even isolated."

The low, seductive tone matched the curl of that elegant hand around Alex's jaw, drawing her head back against the padded headrest, exposing her throat. Holding her like that, with gentle fingers, Lena rewarded the compliance with a long, slow kiss, her fingernails scraping over that long throat with the smallest of pressures, wandering over prominent clavicles, dipping into the water to caress over the upper curves of her breasts. Frustratingly, the impromptu seduction hit a snag simply due to the sheer bulk of the pool's housing.

"Stay," she gently ordered and backed it up with a little lick to upper lip, relishing the shaky sigh of surrender she earned as she retreated. A few fiddles at the control systems had some relaxing but not sleepy music playing, the jets turned down just a touch and the internal heating coils switched on. Alex made a murmur of pleasure as the water jets against her back suddenly warmed. She watched with hooded eyes as Lena leisurely ascended the short flight of stairs and then down the small footholds built into the fiberglass shell. Thankfully she managed the task without falling, despite the distraction of that heavy stare.

The water was at workout temperatures, cool against her skin, and Lena sank below the surface to push towards the lure of Alex's naked body at the far end of the pool where the jets churned the water like champagne. Surfacing, she didn't hesitate in wrapping her arms around Alex's head and kissing her utterly to distraction. Relishing the touch of those gentle, deadly hands roving her over her back and hips, Lena slipped her right leg under Alex's and onto the slippery fiberglass seat. With an assist from the water's buoyancy and the rush of massage jets, it was easy enough to maneuver her lover into straddling that leg, swallowing the note of startled pleasure.

"Do you think I can get you off right here, Tiger? Is the water and the pressure of the jets and the feel of my skin enough to make you cry out for me, hmmm?"

A wet heat that had nothing to do with the agitated water painted Lena's skin, there and gone like the bubbles. Moaning wantonly, Alex gripped the flexing muscles of Lena's ass as they rutted against one another. Cradling her lover's head in her arms, Lena licked and nibbled at Alex's open mouth, watched the slitted eyes, black with want.

"There's something about you and water, something I don't have the right words for," Lena hissed, caught up in the moment now, barely paying attention to what she was saying. "Someday I want to take you back to the ocean, fuck you to screaming in the surf, suck the salt out of your hair. I want the danger and the safety of the water and whatever might be in it, want to watch you play in the waves."

The words themselves weren't quite enough to bring on the whitewater crash of orgasm, but they were more than enough to further the journey, eventually leaving Alex crying out hoarsely, her body shuddering with bliss.

"Fuck," Alex breathed as she began calming. "That was some ambush."

Lena only hummed happily, nuzzling the proud face and relishing her lover's warm skin and breath.

"I almost apologized for being a rude houseguest, but after that? Hell no."

"I wouldn't have let you, because this is the best workout I've ever had in this thing." 

"Oh, I bet I can come up with something even better," Alex leered melodramatically, earning a laugh. Those long, sinewy arms curled around even closer so that she could reach around the plush curves of Lena's ass to tickle deeper between her thighs, earning a groan.

"Smug," Lena teased, all too willing to resituate herself into kneeling so that her breasts were free of the water and available for attention. Understandably, Alex's fascination with her body had not waned even a little and Lena certainly had no complaints.

"We're going to make a mess of your pool."

"It can handle us at one parts per million or so."

Alex spluttered a laugh into Lena's cleavage, hugging her tightly in appreciation.


	6. Burned Like Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She was paralyzed with that being a possibility, that Lena could know about the horrors perpetuated by Cadmus and her mother. But all Alex could think about was that smile, the sound of her teasing, her smoky laugh, the tickle of fingernails on her skin, the slow kisses that had settled such a huge part of herself into something that felt more and more like comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we have arrived at the point where I have leaned heavily on canon. There were just too many important points in episodes 7 & 8 to skip them. However, I have tried to not be boring in my use of canon. The same stands for the next three chapters as well.
> 
> And the ending of this chapter made this fluffy writer cry.

Being back in the Dollywood bar felt weird. Good and bad memories of Maggie pressed in conflict with Lena still forefront on her mind and senses. The date had gone splendidly, leaving Alex warm and relaxed and pleasantly sore. Her good mood had let Kara utilize her puppy eyes to get her way, leaving Alex with her personal conflicts. 

Not to mention being tormented by the aching hickey high on her right clavicle-- which is why she was still wearing her light jacket indoors-- and the faint throb of teeth-shaped bruises behind what felt like both ears. Frankly, Alex was never more grateful she hadn't shortened up her hair recently.

Her senses felt oversensitive, her skin prickly, sensual tastes lodged under tongue, the wisps of clove cigarettes coming from the sketchy-looking character at the bar reminding her far too much of breathing out her blend of e-liquid against Lena's bare skin, licking after the sweet vapor…

Thankfully, James and Winn finally decided to show up. If she had to sit and make small talk with Kara for one more second, she was going to blurt out something that would leave them both with a terminal case of overshare. 

"You know, for a place that caters to aliens, they have some pretty good chicken wings," Winn gushed over the basket of nibblies in his hand and Kara smiled deviously.

"How do you know that's chicken?"

After letting Winn look grossed out for a moment, the sisters smirked evilly. It was strange sometimes, the once-compartmentalized parts of Alex's life blurring together, even getting herself what felt like an annoying and weirdly likable little brother. The other three quickly became engrossed in chewing away at the now familiar subject of National City's very own vigilante. Honestly, Alex only cared in that Guardian had gotten underfoot before and probably would again. Unless he really became a problem, she was quite content to leave him to the NCPD.

The uncomfortable twinge in her heart thinking about her favorite cop made Alex stride over the bar for a fresh round of beers before tossing in her two cents. "I bet he's working with a partner."

"Why-- Why would you say that?" Winn practically stammered, as though she'd said something personally offensive. She still barely spoke his particular dialect of nerd, so she supposed she could have accidentally struck a nerve. Next thing Alex knew, she'd been arguing which hero was cooler, Captain America or Iron Man; and she actually had an opinion on that!

"I'm just saying, in every situation, Guardian seems to be one step ahead. That screams sidekick."

That set Winn to spluttering on about sidekicks, Kara adding in that vigilantes were all nuts, she'd heard some of her cousin's stories. The boys were being so weird about this Guardian thing. Honestly, they were like kids waiting for Santa Claus. Then Kara saying her name started dragging Alex's attention back, but she never got a chance to reply as a familiar whipcrack of voice nearly made her spit take all over the boys.

"Danvers. Hi. It's been a hot minute. How are you?"

And it was like no time had passed at all. 

Why the hell had she come back here? This was inevitable. In that moment, she was authentically irritated with how easily she was manipulated by the little sister she adored, but relented just as quickly. Where else could Kara go and feel like she fit in just a little bit better? For more than two god-damn months she'd managed to avoid this; keeping her few interactions with Maggie strictly business. But in just a few words-- just as she had been since the dusty, confounding feelings had started rattling their chains-- Alex was reduced to a stammering idiot.

"Yeah. Good. Good, yeah. Uh, everybody, this is Maggie. Maggie, this is, um, everybody. James, Winn and Kara."

So much had been said that Alex could almost forget that they had never met, a fact rammed home by Maggie's cheerful greeting. "Oh! The sister. I've heard so much about you from Alex."

"And I've heard all about you." There was no mistaking the thinly veiled hostility in Kara's voice, you could almost taste the heat vision on the words. Despite the tension in the moment, Alex had to admire Maggie's instincts as she retreated from Kara's unspoken threat.

"Um, can I borrow you a minute?" Maggie cajoled, turning her back on Kara to look entreatingly at Alex. For all of her jangled nerves, Alex knew there was no avoiding this and tried to gracefully give into the inevitable, mumbling something affirmative and turning away from the table to walk away with Maggie at her side. 

"Hey, so, you haven't returned any of my calls. I've been worried about you."

It was like back at the beginning, when there had been that sharp edge of jurisdiction and competitiveness, of the awakening feelings that had taken time to bubble up and thrive. Somehow, Alex heard herself speak in a normal, standoffish, conversational tone, having no idea where it came from. "Oh, I've been working."

The love bites on her skin burned like guilt. 

"Right. Must have been a lot of rogue aliens at large."

The faint burn of sarcasm rankled and Alex's voice grew acerbic. "There always are."

The small talk grated.

"Listen, I... I just wanted to make sure things were okay… with us," Maggie said gently, stopping so that Alex was forced to slow and turn, really looking at her finally. "Because the last time we saw each other, things got a little, uh, you know… complicated."

They had never known one another well enough for Alex to decipher the little huff of a laugh there. Yeah, it was probably the same discomfort that roiled in her own gut, but still, it rankled, turning her voice cool as she calmly rehashed the gist of the words said all those weeks ago.

"I don't know. I thought they were pretty straightforward. I'm fresh off the boat. That's not your thing. It's no big deal."

It was a mantra that had saved her sanity in a lot of long nights before Lena had taken her in hand. And it was clear that Maggie believed in what she was saying, the good and the bad. That counted in her favor. "Yeah, I like you, Alex. It's just, you know, the situation. It's nothing personal."

"No, I didn't think it was," she agreed easily. The friendship that had been the soil that grew all these complicated feelings had been real. Maybe that would be enough one day.

"Okay. Good. Still friends?"

And as much as Alex hated to give in, the fact was that she honestly missed Maggie, even with all the turmoil wrought. So, she backed down, really started to accept that this had to be the way it was. She liked this woman, she truly did, and she had made strides of her own, including the lovely surprise of a lover she had fallen in with. Things could be so much worse and she let the positives ease some of her stress and heartache. "Of course."

But she still walked away quickly, eager to retreat and regroup. It would have to be enough, because now… Alex had something to lose.

\----

And then things went to hell, just as they always seemed to.

Sure, J'onn was finally feeling better, and wasn't that a soul-deep relief, but suddenly Guardian went rogue and the bodies were stacking up and she was back at Maggie's side trying to shut the spiral of chaos down before it got further out of control.

Then Kara wasn't answering her phone and she was distracted by that by Winn crumbling like an over baked pastry when she pinned him to the wall and threatened him. On the heels of her shock-- though all the idiot boys weird behavior suddenly made sense now-- Alex was lividly angry. But she let Winn practically beg her not to tell Kara, because there was one thing he was dead right about. There was no way James Olsen was a murderer. 

Still, she didn't pull the strength of the whack she landed on the back of his fool head. 

So, she went to Maggie to try and get her to back off until those idiots could clear themselves. Cornering her in the NCPD parking garage, Alex wasn't particularly proud of herself for being so short-tempered, but getting everything off her chest was a desperate relief. 

Yet, she ached over ever snarled word, her soul feeling like an animal caught in a trap, how she had poured out every agony and shattered hope. She ached for the missed opportunities and for a heart that felt like it might never heal, and for turning on someone she still cared about and…

And because she had never once mentioned Lena. Hell, in those heated, wounded moments blasting at Maggie, she hadn't even thought about her. 

Not once. 

\----

And it just kept getting better. J'onn was apparently melting down, storming out of the DEO after seeing the strange changes his blood was going through, Guardian pinned down the murderous vigilante, and Kara wouldn't answer her damn phone!

She was still in the trashed warehouse where the NCPD was starting the clean up after Guardian and Phillip Karnowsky's rampage when the news reached her. 

When Alex was sixteen, she'd been caught up in normal sixteen year old things in addition to her family craziness. Then her daddy had never come home, dead in a jungle too far from his family, and her world shattered. A part of her had never moved past that point, still that girl-woman huddled in a corner of her room staring dry-eyed and unmoving for long enough that she eventually passed out.

She'd tried to fill that hole with perfection, with protectiveness, with alcohol and work and, yes, Kara.

Kara, who had put that house crest on her chest and put herself in the line of fire like her damn cousin and made things so much more complicated and rich.

Kara, who had been taken by Cadmus while she gallivanted around stressing over a loony in a suit of armor.

Some dispassionate part of her brain too well trained to give into the blind, animal panic that sent her right back to that traumatized sixteen year old, noted Maggie's look of concern, filed away in her fractured memories. By the time she made it back to HQ, her panic had only been blunted off by exhaustion and her body simply being unable to sustain that much adrenaline. 

She didn't quite mow down the infirmary crew, but it was a near thing.

"Oh, my God. I just heard. I had no idea Cadmus took you. I should have been there--"

"Alex. Alex! Jeremiah helped us escape."

And her world seemed to screech to a halt.

Sure, they'd heard the words, but had Kara really seen him? Touched him? Could it be true?

"You saw Dad?"

And she knew where he was. 

But Alex couldn't even get that right, her best strike team racing into the night to swarm the nondescript building like warrior ants. The dingy space was deserted of all traces of Cadmus, the monster who had ravaged her family not once, but twice.

Someone was going to pay.

\----

After drinking herself into a stupor, Alex grit her teeth and accepted the penance of hangover the next day, absorbing all the information she could, combing over the shreds of habitation left behind at the Cadmus facility. After running herself ragged for a day and a half, she was softened up enough to be corralled by Winn and James to go bug her sister with company and comfort food. 

The easygoing company was a balm, even with Mon-El acting weird.

A knock on the door sounded at nearly the same moment her phone buzzed in her pocket, alerting her to a text message. Thankfully not a work notification because her nerves were shot. But a knock at the door interrupted her checking the message.

Maggie.

Maggie with those sweet, sad eyes and the jerky half smile that betrayed that she was just as nervous as Alex, begging to be heard, pouring out her heart even as it was so obvious she was holding something back with a fearful, desperate hold.

Alex could sympathize with that.

And that sympathy, and the fact that she really did like Maggie, allowed her to reach through her own chaos and take a chance.

"Pool. Tomorrow night."

"Wouldn't miss it."

"How was that?" Kara asked gently, because of course she had been watching with her x-ray eyes.

"Ugh. Spy much?" Alex sassed, hearing the exhaustion in her voice, the edge of humor her sister could always seem to drag out. "It was good. We're just gonna be friends."

The nagging guilt lain buried under the recent insanity flared up like a hot little ember insulated by ash. 

Mossy green eyes that could change color like a mood ring and a feline smile… in contrast to warm brown eyes and quirk of grin cradled by sweet dimples…

Alex wanted to beat her head against a wall.

But Kara distracted her racing thoughts and tangled emotions away, promising and reassuring that they would find Dad. After so many years of loneliness, after so many months of knowing he was alive and being able to do nothing about it, Alex latched onto that with all the hope of the loved one left behind.

"But he seemed… He seemed okay?"

The words were stilted and pained, choked by the well of emotion that was the loss of her father. She supposed it was still just like him to stay behind after saving Kara and Mon-El, right? But what changes had been wrought on him in fifteen years?

Kara was adamant that he was still him. Alex was hopeful and hurt and wracked with worry and curiosity. What had kept him away so long?

Cadmus.

"I still can't believe Lena's mother is the head of Cadmus," Alex heard herself say, her almost conversational tone morbidly humorous. Next thing she would be speculating over the weather and golf scores or something equally inane. Was she cracking? It wouldn't surprise her in the slightest.

Could she have gotten in bed with the enemy?

She was paralyzed with that being a possibility, that Lena could know about the horrors perpetuated by Cadmus and her mother. But all Alex could think about was that smile, the sound of her teasing, her smoky laugh, the tickle of fingernails on her skin, the slow kisses that had settled such a huge part of herself into something that felt more and more like comfort.

Some sixth sense suddenly knew what had buzzed into her phone a bit ago.

Finishing her sobering conversation with Kara, barely aware of the words, Alex moved towards the kitchen for as much privacy as she could get in the loft, her back to the others. With trembling fingers, she pulled out her phone, turned it on, unlocked the screen and stared at the words there.

_Miss you. How about that date to go dancing?_

And Alex choked back a sob. It was Wednesday, of course it was. Back on the 2nd, she had been debating and debating with herself what to do with the flirting, the way her heart had raced watching Lena run teasing fingertips over the Ducati's handlebar. She'd taken a wild chance that had led to Santa Barbara and an awakening not just of self, but a bond she would have never expected. Who knew she wasn't broken at all?

Then Alex had waited a few days for both of them to settle back into real life, texting a week ago about the movie date mixed in with all the other emotional upheavals that left her feeling like she'd been beat down.

In the end, there was really no other option and Alex watched her thumbs shakily tap at the little screen.

_Raincheck? Things are nuts right now_

Breathing with deliberate slowness, she pressed the cool glass to her forehead, hoping and dreading… flinching when the device vibrated against her skull after less than a minute.

It took a long moment and a hard swallow to find the courage to lean the thing back and force herself to look.

_Of course. Raincheck._

And her hand shook so hard that she wouldn't have been able to read the words any longer even if her eyes hadn't been blurred with tears.


	7. No Solace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena dialed, humming to herself as she swayed around her living room, numbly noting the crisp tone of her lover's message on the line. She latched onto that comforting voice like an anchor, like a goal. If she wasn't strong enough to do this on her own, she could lean on the strength of the friends she hoped she still had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a pleasant change, this chapter-- and the next one-- are entirely from Lena's POV. I was in agony of how to cover all the Cadmus stuff and not drone on and on… when I had a facepalm moment. There's no way I'm the only one who would have loved to have seen more Lena, right? So expanding on her part of the events was a fascinating task.

Something was wrong. Lena had no idea what it was, but something had gone horribly wrong.

Yet, she hesitated, having been burned too many times in the past to reach out first.

A week had dragged on since that brief text conversation with Alex, every day filled with work from morning til night, burying her fevered mind and aching heart in her damaged legacy. Saturday had been the worst, the emptiness of her office cold contrast to the movie last week, the cuddles and the sweet, loving sex, Alex wrapped around her, warm and solid. Sleeping in her bed-- what little she did of that-- was agony, and she'd been nowhere near the huge swim spa, half tempted to just drain the goddamn thing.

She'd drunk herself stupid that night when she'd only wanted to dance, and passed out on her couch, waking stiff and sore and sick as a dog. Thankfully she had Sunday to pull herself together, little sign of her miserable weekend showing by the time Jess joined her on Monday morning.

Things remained status quo until Wednesday. Why did things always get weird on Wednesdays lately?

"Miss Luthor?"

Blinking away from the screen in front of her, Lena gave her assistant her attention. "Yes, Jess?"

"I have those documents." A few folders were handed off, but Jess didn't retreat. "Do you have plans tomorrow?"

Jess was good at what she did-- it was one of the things Lena appreciated about her-- but she was also scrupulous about boundaries. So this strangely personal question made Lena tilt her head and eye the other woman oddly. Even a few weeks ago, she would have just shrugged it off and moved on, but now… now she found herself appreciating it.

"Uh, no. Truthfully, I'd rather be here than…" Lena found herself running out of words, her brain suffused with the memories of the Danvers sisters and how much she missed them. Clearing her throat roughly, she made a somewhat lame all-encompassing gesture that Jess nodded to. She had caught on that her boss had been acting a bit weird lately, something changing behind those alert green eyes. Some emotional turmoil that was hounding her drive herself even harder than she normally did.

It was going to take a toll, but Jess was not the sort to push boundaries. At least not very hard.

"Okay. Call me if you need anything, okay? I'll bring you some leftovers on Friday. Good night, Miss Luthor."

Blinking in surprise at the personal touch of thinking about her, Lena made some sort of half-incomprehensible farewell as her assistant left.

She was honestly torn between enjoying the care and feeling pathetic that it was so obvious that she needed it. 

The only thing that saved her from the insane morass of emotional bullshit, was the company whose reins had fallen into her hands after Lex lost his mind. That was never far from her mind, no matter the name change to the family legacy and the new logo that rested on her office monitor when it wasn't in use.

Purchases and requisitions and personnel and assets passed by her eyes, a river of names and numbers that ate away at her lonely days and nights. She didn't even bother going home the night before Thanksgiving, finally passing out for a couple hours with her head pillowed on her arms, right at her damn desk. 

Doing her level best to ignore the damn date at the corner of her computer screen, Lena slogged though the endless paperwork. With the building a quiet graveyard around her, only a skeleton crew on hand for the holiday, she made excellent headway. Despite her heartache and despite her loneliness, she felt a sense of exhilaration because, for the first time since Luthor Corp had fallen to her… she felt like she was catching up.

She was also getting a knot of dread in her belly as some subtle patterns were becoming clearer and clearer. There were notable and dangerous assets that had mysteriously vanished the same time Lex had been locked up, as well as some financial sinkholes that couldn't be explained. Someone had siphoned them off somewhere. Someone high enough on the food chain that the discrepancies were nearly invisible. But no matter how she prodded at the roster of the few employees who had the access to fit the crime, she couldn't make it fit. So who could it have been? Who would Lex have trusted enough?

The possibility of what the answer might be made her feel ill.

\----

After scoring a cab back to her lonely condo, scrounging through her pantry and freezer for some sort of dinner and a couple of sleeping pills to knock her ass out, Lena felt almost normal on Friday. With the building full of employees and business again, she could get back to the nuts and bolts of her job and file away the nagging feeling that she was missing so much at the edges of her perceptions. The answers were close, things almost falling together, but she couldn't quite make them fit. Her own personal emotional turmoils were really not helping any.

Lex. Mom. Kara. Alex…

So of course, as though conjured by her tormented thoughts, Kara showed up at her door. But the rush of relief at seeing her friend evaporated in an instant at the wary distance in those blue eyes.

Yes, something had definitely changed since Alex's raincheck.

The sickening kick of loss nearly drove the breath out of Lena even as she tentatively invited Kara in. What had happened with the sisters? When she had seen both of them last, things had been going so well…

"So what is this interview for, really?" she heard herself ask at the tail end of Kara's opening commentary. It was hard to keep the hurt out of her voice, her tone curt. 

"Oh, it's a puff piece. 'Women of Power and the Mothers Who Molded Them.'"

After not seeing her friend for more than two weeks, this is what she had been reduced to.

"Oh, I mean, of course I'm happy to help, Kara, I'm just not sure how interesting my mother and I really are."

"Oh, I'm sure your mother is fascinating," Kara fired back, just a little too eagerly and Lena's instincts were screaming a warning at her. It had been a long time since someone she cared about had made her feel like this, like once again she was the enemy by default.

Because she was a Luthor.

There was nothing but business to Kara today, her behavior wary and probing, the flimsy excuse of a Catco puff piece poking far too close to the sore ache of her own suspicions about her mother. So Lena did her best to deflect.

"Listen, Kara, you can write whatever sounds good, but the truth is, as a daughter, I always seemed to fall short. We could never agree on anything."

Something in Kara softened and she looked conflicted. What could possibly have her holding back like this? The hesitance on her next question only strengthened Lena's belief that there was so much going on beneath the inane conversation that she wasn't privy to.

"What sort of things didn't you agree on? Was it with the business or…"

"Oh, God, no. My mother couldn't care less about L-Corp."

At least that one was easy enough to answer, and it felt good to vent even a little bit of a lifetime of hurt and neglect.

"What about back when it was Luthor Corp? How did she feel when you changed the company's direction?"

No matter how regret laced Kara's voice, Lena was hurting from the distance she had been held at and there was a definite hard edge in her reply. "You mean when I changed it from its murdering world domination direction?" There was no humor in her short laugh. "Sure, yes."

"It's just, you said to me once you wanted L-Corp to be a force for good. She has to be proud of that."

And those words struck a hard blow… but they also crystallized some of the swirling maelstrom of clues that had been whirling around Lena's head for days now. Or was it weeks? Months?

Maybe they had always been there. Just like Lena herself bore the stamp of her family in her ruthlessness and her fear of aliens, just as she remembered the love she had once held for the big brother who she had adored… maybe that rot had always been there.

"Yeah, I would hope so," Lena managed to say in a fairly normal tone of voice, but her mind was already a million miles away and she scrounged up a flimsy excuse. "Look, Kara, you know, I'm a complete idiot. I forgot I had a meeting. I trust you will do us justice."

For a moment, Kara wanted to push, that indefinable something about her pushing to the forefront before she was once again just Kara Danvers, junior reporter from Catco magazine. Her mystery would have to wait.

Barely noting Kara's farewell, Lena sat silently and watched her go before grabbing her phone. Surprisingly, it only took a moment for the other end to activate and she took her fate into her own two hands. 

"Mom? We need to talk."

\----

Lena kept digging.

She moved beyond just company assets, prodding gingerly at the old family money, shocked to see how much of it had been funneled away to some dark place. Had Lex done this? Some cache for future madnesses? It wasn't as though he would ever stop trying to escape whatever dark hole the authorities had thrown him into. 

Lex was so much his mother's son in his charisma and ruthlessness. What else might they have in common?

Her achingly empty stomach finally drove Lena out of her office and she fell asleep in the back of the car after having barely sat down. If that wasn't proof that she needed to recharge… 

So she gave into her body's demands, indulging in wholly terrible fast food and wearily trudging her way to her lonely condo. Pouring an unhealthy dose of butterscotch schnapps into her milkshake, she decided that some melodramatic sulking was in order and grabbed her APV to retreat to her balcony and the chill November air. 

Tonight she was hurting, feeling like her world was falling down around her ears. With a gut full of greasy tacos to pad the spiked milkshake and an e-liquid with enough nicotine in it to taste like car tires, Lena Luthor indulged in some painful self-destruction.

It had been awhile since she'd felt so bad, like the whirlpool of loathing and terror in her heart was going to eat her alive.

Her life had been coldness and hard angles, only Lex's affection bringing her any lasting warmth. Even Dad's approval had always been more of an approving mentor rather than that warm, adoring father she would have loved to have had. Mom? Well, Mom had made her feel more like an adopted pet to keep her beloved son company, rather than a child in need of nurturing.

Surrounded by the finest lifestyle money could buy… Lena would have traded it all for a hug.

It didn't take long for schnapps and nicotine to make her brain and internal organs feel like they were in a blender. It was a bit of a relief to melt away the ache of loneliness, to just dwell in the moment. The ache in her heart and throat was gone and she felt pleasantly floaty. Who cared that she nearly tripped over her own couch?

Like many drunks, the allure of the mobile phone was too much and Lena stared at the touch screen blearily.

Agent Tiger.

Lena dialed, humming to herself as she swayed around her living room, numbly noting the crisp tone of her lover's message on the line. She latched onto that comforting voice like an anchor, like a goal. If she wasn't strong enough to do this on her own, she could lean on the strength of the friends she hoped she still had.

"Miss you, baby," she murmured blearily, cradling the phone to her cheek with both hands. "Make me brave, catch me… please…"

Without hanging up the phone, Lena fell into her bed fully clothed, dreaming that she could still smell her lover on the sheets.


	8. Puzzle Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Like pieces in a jigsaw, so many of the little clues clicked solidly into place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In celebration of 100 comments, I'm releasing a pair of chapters today!

Saturday was a weary task, a trudge borne of habit and a lack of any other path. All Lena had was the company left to her, the legacy she would die to fix. She didn't even know why any more, just knew that it was the right thing to do.

Scoured inside and out, from a scalding hot shower after being spectacularly ill and feeling lonelier than she had since Lex had started spiraling years ago, she nonetheless slogged through her endless tasks. The mundanity of it all settled her, made her feel useful at least. In time, she was even hungry enough to remember the leftovers Jess had brought for her. The food settled her, not just with calories and delicious flavors, but the care behind it. A half glass of wine chased back the edges of hangover without reminding her of the destructive foolishness of the night before.

Then Lillian arrived.

Like all too many of their interactions, it was a volley of calm insults, of looking for a chink in the careful armor. Normally, Lena would have been on her game, but she was raw and full of doubts.

Then Mom had to calmly state the false truth that she loved her… and it felt like a blow.

Lena forced herself to stand, to take back what power she could in this. Still her pleasant tone was a shaky, angry accusation by the time she ran out of words. "Well. Now that we've got the pleasantries out of the way, let me ask, what the hell are you up to?"

The hurt seemed so authentic that Lena almost caved as Lillian protested the vehemence. "We've hardly spoken since Lex's trial. I thought maybe you called me here to make amends. It's Thanksgiving, after all." The coldness was back and Lena almost regretted what she had said as Mom grabbed her purse and stormed towards the door. "But I see I was mistaken."

It had forever been like this between them, barbs and snide remarks and manipulation. And, like most of these battles of will, Lena couldn't let it go.

"There's a reporter sniffing about. She's smart. She knows something about you. What is it?"

Having walked after the only mother she knew-- and wasn't that a sad statement on how they always were-- Lena watched her turn, studied those familiar blue eyes.

"I couldn't possibly imagine," Lillian protested with that cool calm Lena hated and had learned to emulated all too well.

"See, I know you're lying," she fired back, some of her hurt bleeding through.

"And how would you know that?"

Perhaps it was the note of authentic curiosity beneath the scorn that dragged out Lena's honesty once more. "Because you told me you love me. And we both know that's not true."

\----

**Author's note** : {{ The missing scene story 'Confess Me' takes place here. http://archiveofourown.org/works/9499790 }}

\----

Peace reigned for some time, day bleeding out into night while Lena dug and dug and dug at the ones and zeroes that ruled her life. The faint trails coalesced, correlated and confirmed, revealing some ugly possibilities that narrowed down her list of suspects.

It also revealed the faint ether trails of hackers.

Oh, they were good, but she saw them by the very things they did not show. Like a vapor trail left at the wingtips of a plane in a passing cloud or a footstep at the melting edge of a snowfield; they were visible by what they disturbed in their passing.

One was indiscriminate and she sicced trace and destroy programs their way. But the other one, they were looking for something. And it took her time to find it. Employees went home, darkness took over outside her windows, but at last, Lena found the hacker's end result.

And she worried immediately. 

Scientific experimentation often resulted in accidental discoveries; some benign and some terrifying. Isotope 454 fell somewhere in between. It was a radioactive material that bizarrely did little damage to living things. Stranger, it interacted with earth's heavy atmosphere like baking soda in water, dissolving into minute particles and dispersing with shocking speed. It could also carry a secondary material, if in microscopic enough form. Anything larger than a large bacteria and the isotope fell out of solution, as it were.

It's only obvious purpose was to be a weapon.

For better or worse, some of the processes to make the isotope were murky enough to have kept it in company hands, though Lena would bet that there were some government watchdogs that knew more about it than she would like. So far she had managed to keep it secured in the vaults of L-Corp in hopes that something more useful than delivering death could be found for it.

But someone was eventually going to get ahold of it.

The more of it that was painstakingly manufactured, the greater its radioactive signature and the more people that knew about its existence. And now, there was a flat-out hack to her systems specifically targeting information on the dispersal agent.

It could herald no good.

With skill and the finest technology money could buy, Lena retraced the hacker's subtle trail until she hit another system. Using the same chinks in that system's armor the hacker had used, she took a careful look around. 

She did not have to look very hard, reading up on an alien-killing virus, noted enough correlation to figure out who must be behind it. But she did not dare to stay in the system for long, she wasn't secure enough to stay undetected and she knew it.

Once again, Lena was torn between doing the right thing and the fears passed down to her by the family who raised her. But, in the end, there was really only one choice.

Falsifying a paper trail in the computer record that the isotope had been transferred away from the facility, Lena immediately headed for the secure storeroom. Beyond an empty laboratory was a massive vault door that opened after verifying the pattern of blood vessels in her right hand and the minute quirks of her speech. Ignoring the rest of the collection, Lena went right to the correct rack and shelf, dragging the sturdy steel case to the edge and opening it.

The pair of 400 milliliter lead-glass vessels were heavy in her hands, the carrier liquid a rich, blood red from the harmless tracking dye within. So much potential destruction in such a small package.

Taking her prize back to the lab, Lena set to work. In her brief look at the Medusa Virus, she had noted a quirk she was certain she could exploit. Since it was obvious the virus was alien, whatever its original dispersion agent was might have closed the loophole she was aiming for. 

With a sharp intellect that too rarely had such a juicy problem to work on and the memory of the Medusa Virus strong in her crisp memory, Lena focused on solving the problem.

The blare of the building's alarm was almost a relief, Lena looking up from her fiddly work. She might only have moments now, finishing her task and slipping the glass canisters into their case. Stashing the thing onto a random shelf to conceal it in plain sight, she raced for the elevators.

Now to find what she was up against.

The racket of battle reached Lena's ears before she rounded the corner of the lobby to stare at a dark-skinned man tossing Supergirl as though she were a baseball, her near-indestructible frame smashing through the L-Corp logo done impeccably in concrete. No easy feat as the thing stood nearly eight feet tall. Supergirl moved fitfully, clearly exhausted… or hurt.

Then the man turned to Lena and she blanched at the metal Phantom of the Opera mask and that left eye, glowing like an LED bulb. With no more effort than if he were throwing a foam block, the upper part of the broken concrete 'L' was hurled at Lena with deadly intent.

She never got a chance to do more than flinch away, unsteady on her high heels, as the concrete exploded into rubble against a wavering Supergirl.

"Get out of here," she superhero gasped and what could Lena do but comply?

There was shouting and heavy gunfire, a man's taunting, his sneering tone not quite carrying over the racket. Then there was a flash of watery blue and Lena couldn't help but peek around the corner, marveling with everyone else when some sort of… portal opened up in her lobby.

Then the masked man shot a laser from that glowing eye and sent one of the cops sprawling, distracting Supergirl and sending the rest of the SWAT team fanning out into the lobby. But Lena had seen the blur and knew that the man was gone even before one of the cops said it.

Barely letting the police check to see if she was okay, Lena retreated to her office to call maintenance to the damaged lobby. Maybe she should have stayed to ensure the night employees in the building were staying out of the way of the police, that no one was hurt, but she was too rattled to think clearly.

Knowing a choice would put you in danger and being forced to face that danger were two completely different realities.

It didn't take long for Supergirl to arrive, pulling open the door from her balcony. Lena was relieved to be pulled from her own whirling thoughts. She even managed a chuckle. 

"You know that door's not really an entrance."

The Kryptonian's expression did not change; stoic with discomfort and tight with what might have been pain. It was a bit disconcerting and Lena found herself babbling on.

"I just wanted to thank you for earlier on. Not only did you save the lives of countless numbers of my employees, but mine as well."

It took Supergirl a moment to find her voice, speaking in her straightforward way. "Now I need your help."

"Anything," Lena agreed easily, and she meant it. For all the bad blood between Lex and Superman, she really liked this hero, felt a strange kinship to her. But the next words completely took her off guard.

"I need help finding your mother."

Lena had compartmentalized a great many things away in her mind over her life. A great many things. They were like endless, convoluted corridors of securely closed doors, some recent and some so very old.

The sensation of standing in front of one of those doors with a choking sense of dread was almost real. She could almost hear the creak of hinges as the darkness beyond that protective barrier swung open.

"My mother?" she parroted back uncertainly.

Something so achingly sympathetic flickered in blue eyes, but Supergirl soldiered on. "Your mother is behind Cadmus. She's their leader."

The lights in that dark mental room flickered on.

Like pieces in a jigsaw, so many of the little clues clicked solidly into place. 

"You're lying."

Supergirl had stalked across the office, and whirled now, adamant and a little desperate. "I'm not. She kidnapped me. And now she possesses a virus that she could wipe out the entire alien population of National City. I need you to help me find her, so that she doesn't hurt any more innocent people."

It did not matter that this was the truth, that Lena herself had figured it out and had been pretending to be ignorant. It was devastating to have it spelled out.

Pulling an icy calm around her shattering heart, Lena nearly snarled at this bearer of bad news.

"You know, I thought you were different. You wear that symbol on your chest and everyone thinks you're good. How many times did your cousin put on that high-and-mighty costume and come after Lex? My mother is no saint, but you come in here and accuse her of being the devil incarnate? How long before you come after me?"

The words dripped like acid, laced with a false humor that was all pain, but Supergirl never faltered, took the poisoned barbs and maintained her own painful calm.

"I know what it's like to be disillusioned by our parents. But I'm a pretty good judge of character. And you are not like your mother. She is cold and dangerous. And you are too good and too smart to follow in her path. Be your own hero."

The words were hammer blows, as powerful as the alien's fists, and they dug deep. For a long moment, Lena could only stare at her, feel the strength of that lifeline of connection she'd felt from the start.

But this was her war, and family took care of their own business. With shaking hands, Lena blindly picked up her tablet and spoke in a tremulous voice that said so much more than merely words. "You can leave the same way you came in."

For a long moment, Supergirl hesitated, on the verse of refusal, of more words, perhaps even force. There was none of that though, she simply shouldered the rejection and left quietly, leaving Lena staring after her longingly.

She would not cry.

'Be your own hero.'

The words reverberated in her skull, shook apart the aching lump in her throat, dried her tears. The path she had to follow was as clear as day now and Lena would see it out until the end.

In the meantime, she had a few more changes to make to that isotope.


	9. Medusa Beheaded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Susan didn't miss the way Maggie's hand half raised as though reaching out in silent, subconscious supplication. Alex remained oblivious, shifting Lena to walk wobbily at her side, their arms around each other for support.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last we wander afield of near-canon and get Alex involved once more! I don't know about all of you, but I've missed her!

Just as always it seemed, a Luthor was taken down by ego. A phonecall, another meeting in her office, the offer of the coveted Isotope 454 and Lena's help. Lillian hadn't even bothered to deny the accusation of her being the hissing, poisonous head of Cadmus.

Now Lena found herself at the Port of National City, welcoming the bite of late November chill as penance for what she was about to do.

In a stoic silence, she watched her mother fiddle at some big piece of military-grade hardware half concealed beneath a tarp. The glow of the isotope vanished with a clang and Lillian strode towards her, smug as a cat with self-righteous satisfaction.

"Some mothers wear lockets with pictures of their children," Lena couldn't help but sass. "You wear the keys to a bazooka."

Pulling said keys on a chain from around her neck, Lillian joined her at the remote control box, formally offering them. "It's a rocket launcher. And it's yours. Take it. Prove you're with me. Unleash Medusa and end Earth's alien menace once and for all."

It was all so melodramatic and deadly. Lena might almost be amused as well as terrified if she weren't so soul-weary. This was how it ended then.

Right on cue, Supergirl swooped in beside… not quite the same man who had attacked L-Corp just hours before. Numb to shocks any longer, Lena heard Supergirl's shout.

"Don't do it, Lena."

And Lena played her part perfectly, voice tinged with a pain all too real.

"Why not? I'm a Luthor."

The key slotted smoothly and clicked over with a small note of finality, the hissing roar of the rocket drowning out every other sound as it headed for open air. The look of shocked betrayal on Supergirl's face was morbidly amusing. What did the alien expect? This was all she had left.

The not-cyborg ordered Supergirl off and he snarled at the Luthor women that they were finished. Resigned to her fate, Lena didn't even react to the threat, to Mom's return volley, to the cyborg doppelganger charging out of nowhere to engage.

Though the crash of a forty foot shipping container falling on non-cyborg did finally make the women retreat behind the launcher where Lena stared in horror at the towering monster he morphed into.

Supergirl had vanished into the distance, the rocket a fiery sliver against the sky over National City.

It was all too much for Lena, too much violence and shattered emotions.

The click of a switch beneath Mother's finger and the distant explosion were an echo to her own sense of implosion, of loss and regret and a million things she had no words for.

Lena barely noted Supergirl's return, slamming into the cyborg, while beside her the monster once more became a man. Deadly and beautiful, the golden fallout of virus and isotope drifted over the city she had so badly wanted to make a home in. There would be no chance of public forgiveness now, as once again, the name of Luthor came down like a hammer blow of deadly intent.

Numbness settled over her, a welcome balm against the blows to her psyche. Any moment now…

"They should be dead. All aliens should be dead," Lillian Luthor questioned in disbelief as the ashy motes of her deadly attack fluttered impotently to the ground. Then she figured it out, saw the lies through her own desperation and want for destruction. Her disgust fell on Lena like a blow. "You. You switched out the isotope. You made the virus inert."

No matter that Lena had been braced for the rejection and hate, it still hurt. But she was determined to not show it. With a haughty arrogance learned at her mother's knee, Lena listened to the sound of approaching sirens. Her words were quiet, heavy with finality and hidden hurt.

"I did. And I called the police."

\----

Alex wanted to go herself. She was aching to go. But she could not and she knew it. Too close to the situation, too many mixed emotions, just… too much.

She was stressed, exhausted and worried about those she cared about, all of that settling into aches and pains in her tissues and the gray matter between her ears. 

But they'd survived again. Who knew Lena would have been so instrumental in that? Kara had called the story in, shocked and impressed at how things had gone down at the waterfront. The cost to her though… The last member of her family dragged away in cuffs, her mother as rogue as her brother. 

Alex couldn't fathom what Lena must be feeling.

It was the sudden shift in energy that alerted her that something unexpected was happening. When she turned to look, Alex froze in surprise for a long moment. 

Susan had raced over to HQ from the desert when things had begun spiraling out of control with Cadmus. With J'onn out helping Kara, Alex had been forced to stay put, but sent Susan in her stead, not trusting anyone else. What she hadn't expected was a very weary-looking Maggie, still in her sling and borrowed shirt. 

Between the two officers, a blaze of hot red against their basic blacks, was a stone-faced Lena Luthor. She looked calm and icily composed, her carefully made up features a mask of indifference. But Alex could see that she was unnaturally pale, her normally vibrant eyes darkened pools of pure stress.

And Alex could no more ignore that silent plea than she could stop breathing.

In the handful of long strides it took to reach her, Lena crumbled, her body shaking, hands reaching out. She went as limp as a marionette with her strings cut and Alex gripped her close, an unmovable rock of strength and protection.

"I got you, I got you, it's okay now. Shhhhh."

Lena shook so hard that she couldn't get her feet under her, Alex's bones feeling like they were rattling in sympathy. Her breath was fast and cool and her arms weakly grasping Alex's familiar frame.

Every eye in the place was caught up in the unexpected scene. Doubtlessly the rumor mill would have far too much fun with Alex's showing that she really wasn't a complete hardass. Honestly, she didn't give a good goddamn at the moment.

"Come on, Lena, let's get you somewhere quiet and warmed up. Susan, can you do me a favor and wrestle those shoes off?"

Crouching, Susan did as requested and Lena could finally get her feet settled, even as she whined wordlessly about the cold marble.

"Thank you. And you too… detective."

For a moment, Alex watched Maggie's expression, the mixed feelings reflected there in her eyes. But they were only friends and that's how it was. Alex tightened her grip around the woman she'd grown to care about in the wake of rejection and nodded at the one who broke her heart before turning away.

Susan didn't miss the way Maggie's hand half raised as though reaching out in silent, subconscious supplication. Alex remained oblivious, shifting Lena to walk wobbily at her side, their arms around each other for support. 

\----

Wracked in a discordant hellscape of memories and things only the imagination could call up, Lena awoke with a jerk, heart pounding and her own cry fading into the small room. A generic exam room by the nature of the equipment around her.

Alex. Alex had brought her here, checked her over and gotten her covered up and relaxed enough to fall into a restless sleep. The memories were flooding back, the rocket launcher, her mother's hateful face as she was led away in handcuffs, hours spent at the police station, talking until her voice gave out from repressed tears. Then the nice detective-- still in a sling from being shot by that cyborg monster-- and a serious-faced stranger had taken her to a squad car. In a nondescript skyscraper nearby, Alex had been a welcome haven of comforting familiarity. Despite the haziness of the some of the memories, Lena knew quite well that the acronym built right into that cold marble floor was not FBI.

Sweatpants had been tugged over her lower half, hiking up her dress around her waist, and a pair of thick athletic socks warmed her feet. Testing out her still shaky legs, Lena noticed there were a pair of nondescript canvas shoes set close by and her coat was slung neatly over the back of the lone chair. Struggling into both, Lena wobbled out of the dim room and squinted into the larger infirmary beyond. To her surprise, Supergirl stood beside one of the recovery beds, talking quietly with a young man lying there with a smile on his face. An orderly noticed their patient up and about and quietly caught Supergirl's attention so that she looked over at Lena.

Had she been less rattled, Lena would have noted the soft concern in the alien's blue eyes, tempered as she patted the young man's arm and immediately strode over. "It's good to see you up, Lena. If you're up for it, Agents Danvers and Vasquez will be glad to see you looking better."

Nodding silently, she accepted the offered arm to balance herself, grateful the taller woman moved slowly and deliberately. Everything felt over-bright and surreal and she ached all over.

"You were amazing tonight," Supergirl said quietly and Lena would have stumbled if not for that unnaturally powerful arm and the gentle hand she laid over hers. "Positively heroic."

Even through Lena's emotional trauma, the words registered and she stared at the familiar profile and the smile Supergirl wore. She was distracted by arriving in a large space, the noise of busy people growing louder. It was the same area she had passed through earlier, though there were a great many more people there now. A passingly familiar woman with short hair-- the agent who had brought her here, Lena recalled-- tapped Alex, whose head whipped around. Handing off a clipboard to a lab-coated blonde, she immediately trotted over, not missing a beat when Lena wearily tossed her loose arm around her and leaned in hard.

Alex itched to be more friendly, to really wrap up her traumatized lover, but she was hyper aware of so very many eyes. Still, she hugged Lena and her sister close, rubbing their backs in comfort for a long moment before feeling Kara shift Lena's other hand so that Alex could twist and duck under that arm. When J'onn turned and strode closer, Lena jerked to a dead halt.

"Miss Luthor," he said quietly. "On behalf of the alien denizens of National City, I would like to thank you."

She didn't so much as blink, a small note of animal distress a low whine deep in her throat. Figuring it out, Kara jumped between them. "J'onn, I think I can reasonably say that it's not personal, but you do look like someone who has traumatized her in very recent memory."

The expression on J'onn's face might have almost been amusing were it not the for the way he looked down at the hands he'd worn as a disguise for so long and realized what Lena saw in that moment. Hank Henshaw had broken into the L-Corp building just the evening before and nearly killed several people, including Lena herself. J'onn's face was mournful when he looked up.

"My apologies. I would change, but I fear my alien form would be even more horrific at the moment."

All too clearly recalling the monstrous shape he had changed into while fighting the doppelganger who had tried to crush her, Lena merely shuddered and nodded jerkily.

"I should get her home," Alex said with a hard, protective edge to her voice that set everyone in motion. Susan appeared with a set of car keys and Lena's missing shoes to hand off.

"Let me run you home. It's been a long night."

"Thanks, Vasquez. Send me a text when you get those reports, would you?"

"Sure thing."

Lena was feeling light-headed and overexposed, as sensitive as an open wound. Sensing that, Alex unclipped her tactical belt and handed it off to J'onn, already waiting with an open hand. 

"You'll be okay?" Alex asked her mother, still feeling a bit jangled from the all to recent coming out conversation and overly aware of how Lena sagged against her.

"I'll be fine, Alex," Eliza reassured her eldest and did her best to fight down a knowing smile. "I'll give your sister a call."

"Okay, good. I'll bring this one back later for a statement."

Many eyes watched the pair follow Susan out, Lena moving as though drunk or wounded, Alex's hold gentle and strong, the incongruous spike heels dangling from her free hand.


	10. Confessional Hugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a true show of loving intimacy Lena desperately missed from her own childhood, the sisters shared a look that was a whole conversation. Giggling in false protest, Lena was abruptly smothered by the two of them, pressed breathlessly into the couch cushions for a moment before they let up a bit. There were kisses and warm breath all over her face, making her giggle more, completely seduced by the sweetness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite episode 9, I'm sticking to the headcanon that Alex has a separate bedroom.

If asked, Susan Vasquez would have said that she knew Alex Danvers pretty well.

Turns out she didn't know Alex nearly as well as she thought she did.

In the elevator, Alex tugged Lena to lean harder against her to be held loosely, even as that stoic expression never changed. Well, stoic unless one watched the tension and concern lingering at the corners of her eyes and mouth. Lena moved like a automaton in need of a charge, clearly barely capable of holding herself up, body heavy and trusting against Alex, eyes closed.

Fascinating.

At the ubiquitous black SUV, Alex climbed into the backseat and tugged Lena in along with her, getting them both buckled in safely. Susan didn't miss that her boss remained in the middle seat so that Luthor could lean into her, one strong arm wrapped around her shoulders.

In the early morning hours, the city was already snarled due to the night's chaos, despite it being a Sunday. No one in the car commented on it.

When the big car pulled up right at the exterior door to the closest elevator to Alex's apartment, she didn't even ask Susan how she knew exactly where to go. She merely leaned forward to silently squeeze the other agent's shoulder and got out, trotting around the car to gently tug Lena to her feet. Susan watched them in the mirrors until the building door clicked shut behind them. Only then did she leave.

By the time they reached her apartment door, Alex was wondering if Lena wasn't going to just collapse in a boneless heap. Though she did finally blink a bit back to herself at the sight of a living space she had never seen before.

"This is my place," Alex explained softly, turning to walk backward, tugging coaxingly at her lover's hands. "I didn't want you to be alone."

That finally began cracking Lena, her breath hitching and tears flooding her eyes. Gently bringing her into a tight hug, Alex half walked and half danced their bodies around so that she could get the door closed and locked. The hug was a desperate clutch, Lena's fingers fisted into black fabric, Alex cradling Lena's head against her neck, her other hand splayed open between her shoulders.

"I'm sorry Lee, so sorry. You shouldn't have been alone for any of this." Alex's voice was heavy with regret, with the threat of tears, and Lena burrowed into her neck, breathing in the familiar and much missed scents of her. 

Lena would never forget how she had felt the last week and a half, abandoned and desperately lonely and the constant sensation of crosshairs on her back nerve-wrackingly close. But she understood being ground under by something so much larger than oneself. 

"It was the job that kept me away. Not who you are. I don't want you to think that."

It was as though Alex had read her mind, seen the old self-loathing of never being quite good enough for her family, who then dragged the family name into a depthless hell hole. She clung all the harder and sobbed out some small part of that heavy baggage.

They stood there for some time before heading for the bedroom. 

"We're going to shower to get clean and warm and then I'm going to make soup and raid the ice cream stash. I have plenty of the stuff because that's the default Danvers sister snack. Particularly when under stress. Then we're going to watch a movie and cuddle."

The matter-of-fact delivery had Lena nodding, her body complacent to Alex's cajoling hands stripping her naked. The care continued to chip away at the numbness that was the only thing that kept away the pain, the borderline disassociation that had everything feeling cottony and far away. Warm water blasted over her skin, making Lena gasp and tighten her loose hold on Alex's bare body. Rather than make the other woman move, Alex simply grabbed the shampoo and hummed soothingly as she worked loose Lena's updo and rubbed suds into the strands. Trembling lightly and sniffling against the tears that once more began to trickle, Lena clung close and soaked up the gentle touches, the periodic kisses to her face.

Eventually they were clean and dried and settled into Alex's comfiest clothing. Then Alex bundled her girl off to the couch to get settled in with a pile of blankets and a soft kiss. Lena sat quietly, her eyes still wet and huge in her face, watching as a quick meal was put together and brought to the couch, a warm mug put in her hands. Over chicken noodle soup and a better-brand vanilla ice cream, the pair calmed and half-heartedly watched whatever was on the television.

Even as Lena was ready to fall face first into the little carton of ice cream, there was still so much tension in her that Alex hurt in sympathy. Then she noticed the dark hair mostly dried into loose, chaotic curls and had it.

"Back in a second, Lee."

Armed with a brush and some sport wrap, she returned and sat sideways to face her lover.

"C'mere, babe. Let me brush your hair out for you."

For a moment, Lena only looked at her oddly, still trapped in the twilight of emotional trauma. In the sane parts of her mind, she wondered over the seemingly incongruous offer. Brush her hair? How odd was this woman? 

But wasn't this the sort of things friends did? Didn't she like Alex before she let her become anything more?

Pushing aside the internal ramblings, Lena did the only thing she really could and slipped closer. Settling into the cradle of Alex's thighs, she huddled into herself, her back trustingly exposed, and trembled at the gentle hands that ran over her scalp and back to settle the dark strands. Humming along with the singers on the TV, Alex carefully started from the trailing ends and worked her way up until the bristles massaged Lena's scalp and some of the tension finally began to ease. Unwilling to give up the closeness, Alex busied herself with a simple braid, taping the intertwined strands at the end. When she reached out to smooth her fingertips over that dramatic jaw, Lena leaned into her hand, the motion turning into a slow twist that Alex automatically slouched down to accept. The haven of physical affection, of care and gentleness, it called to Lena, a lighthouse to her stormy seas. Sprawling out atop Alex's stronger frame, she snuggled in, relishing the full-bodied hug, the heat of breath against her forehead, the brush of lips. Then, and only then, did the tension truly drain away.

"Thank you."

Alex could barely hear the hoarse whisper, Lena's voice still stolen away by the strain of the day.

"You're welcome," Alex murmured gently against the strands of dark hair that she had only just tamed. They both relished one strong hand simply stroking hypnotically up and down Lena's spine, easily giving into the healing darkness that quietly stole over them, comforted with the presence of one another.

\----

In broad daylight, a sense of normalcy returned to National City. The terrors of the night were gone now, and most had survived. They were still a community, still a melting pot of color, creed and species. But the hatreds that had lent power to Cadmus were still there and Kara had been disillusioned with the knowledge that her own father had created the Medusa Virus.

What she really needed was her sister.

Satisfied that her city seemed to be fine for now, and after a quick stopover at the DEO to check in how everyone was progressing, Kara swooped to the familiar window and quietly let herself in. It had been a selling point of the building, the big windows that opened but had no balconies and were inaccessible unless rappelling gear was used. Or you could fly.

Slipping into the living room, Kara did her best not to disturb the concealing curtains too much. Relieved to be off the clock as it were, she padded over the couch and flopped down beside it. She didn't bother to do more than note dark hair and half a forehead peeking out of the pile of bedding, leaning in to headbutt very gently.

"I could use a hug?"

The question was vulnerable and needy, but Kara couldn't hold it against herself on a morning like this. Nodding slowly, the lump slithered out an arm to drape loosely around Kara's neck.

"Kara," said a voice she wasn't expecting but knew well, even as she heard her sister make a surprised noise from the bedroom doorway.

That's what Kara got for dialing her powers down too far.

Like a puppy burrowing from a pile of its packmates, Lena nosed aside the blankets cocooning her and blinked sleepily at her friend and former crush. For a moment, no one moved, then Lena yawned and tightened her grip enough to drag her own body closer to tighten the loose hug. She was forced to move because Kara had turned rigid as, well, steel.

"I was starting to wonder," Lena murmured against Kara's neck, feeling the loose blonde hair tickling her skin, the bulk of the cape under her cheek.

Alex made a noise that was half frustration and half incredulous snort of amusement. When she stepped up beside them, her glower reflected that, laced heavily with affection. "I stepped away for five minutes. Tops!"

"S'ok," Lena slurred, still half-asleep. "You're safe. Me too, I think."

Melted by the sleepy vulnerability, Alex stepped around her sister, petting the blonde strands, so that she could brace herself against the back of the couch and lean over to kiss both of their heads. "You're both safe."

Nudging Lena to lie back, Alex sat at the edge of the couch, stroking each of their scalps, light and dark. There was seriousness in her expression, but sweetness too.

"Now, I'm going to make scrabbled eggs and we're going to just chill for a bit, okay? Then, we're going to the DEO, because you, missy," her attention focused on Lena, tracing the shape of her cheekbone and the corner of her right eye. "You have stumbled into something much larger than you realize. The boss will need to speak to you, to ensure the safety of those around Kara and I. Okay?"

What else could Lena do but nod? "Okay. I trust you."

Kara seemed puppyishly confused. "You didn't yell."

Alex only chuckled and sat back to open her arms. Kara didn't waste a moment to scramble to her knees and shuffle over to fall into the offered hug. "No, I didn't. The fewer people who know, the safer we all are, but this one seemed inevitable."

"Hey, I fooled Miss Grant."

"Oh, I suspect she's never been as fooled as you'd like."

Lena merely watched the sisters in silence, Alex in her rumpled pajamas and sleep-wild hair, Kara on her knees, cape dragging on the floor, clinging with an anchoring desperation that would confuse an onlooker… Unless they knew that sweet Kara Danvers and Supergirl were one and the same.

Making a petulant little noise, Kara burrowed closer for a moment, making Alex wince a bit. Long moments passed while they simply held one another in the aftermath of the dangers that Lena realized must hound them constantly. And this last one perpetuated by all that was left of her family besides her.

As though sensing the turmoil, Alex simply uncoiled one arm and offered an open hand.

But Lena felt like she would be imposing.

In a true show of loving intimacy Lena desperately missed from her own childhood, the sisters shared a look that was a whole conversation. Giggling in false protest, Lena was abruptly smothered by the two of them, pressed breathlessly into the couch cushions for a moment before they let up a bit. There were kisses and warm breath all over her face, making her giggle more, completely seduced by the sweetness.

"Welcome to the family," Kara enthused softly and it was no surprise that Lena's breath caught in a sob.

She had set up the only family member she had left to hang herself by her own sins. The memory of that would ache forever because, for all of her many faults, Lillian Luthor had been the only mother she remembered. Now she, like Lex, would rot in some isolated, secure place, never to be seen again.

Hopefully.

And now Lena had these two… and it sort of blew her mind. In those moments, half-suffocated by the Danvers sister's affections, she promised herself that she would never willingly betray them. No matter what her second family had taught her.

Alex, sprawled out atop Lena, levered herself onto her elbows when the long exhalation escaped her. Not a sigh exactly, but something emotional nonetheless. 

"What is it?" she asked softly, caressing Lena's forehead and temple. Unsurprisingly, Lena pressed into the touch, gathering herself for a moment.

"A promise. To myself. To be the sort of person that would make both of you proud."

Kara couldn't find it in her to make disgusted sibling noises at their long, sweet kiss. But she did duck into Lena's shoulder to hide her eyes.


	11. Domestic Calm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex wasn't certain if Lena knew she was watching from the doorway, or just letting her enjoy the show. In her comfortable but still feminine underthings, Lena perused the collection, pulling a black tank on before the red sweater that made Alex smile. It was a new experience, seeing a lover in her clothes. It drove home once more how right this attraction felt, despite the doubts that had plagued her off and on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote about the theme of Alex getting a thrill out of her lover in her clothes before episode 9. Go me for being intuitive!

Despite the protestations, Alex squirmed away and headed for her open kitchen close by. Kara slid down to sit beside the couch again, getting fouled up in her own cape and Lena smiled as she settled on her side. To see the mix of sunny Kara and serious Supergirl was enlightening to say the least.

"So… adopted," Lena marveled as she reached out to trace the upper edge of the S-like crest on Kara's chest. Comically aghast at the comment, Kara shot Alex a wide-eyed look, causing the older woman to raise placating hands.

"It came up. But not… this, obviously." There was no mistaking the all-encompassing gesture to the blue and red suit so distinctive to Supergirl. "That part of the story is all yours, sis."

"You don't have to tell me anything," Lena volunteered quietly. It didn't take an emotional genius to see that Kara was debating with herself. "Particularly on the heels of accidentally outing yourself, as it were."

The friends giggled together, heads leaned close. 

"You're not mad or feeling weird or left out or anything?"

"On a different day, I suppose I might be. But today, I'm just too worn down to feel anything but impossibly grateful for you two." Half-asleep once more, Lena barely realized she was even talking, much less what she was saying, and Kara was so grateful for the sleepy honesty. 

For a time, they were simply content with the quiet between them, the small sounds of Alex moving about soothing to both of them. When Lena did break the quiet, her voice was small and sad.

"I'm sorry. For what I said yesterday, about you pretending to be a hero and for implying that this wasn't important. I was wrong and I never should have attacked you like that."

And while Kara understood that there were real reasons to be wary of this woman, she believed her own instincts, as well as Alex's. So she simply forgave.

"You were hurting."

"It's no excuse."

"And you're forgiven."

With a shift of bodies, Kara laid an arm out on the couch so that Lena could wriggle closer and press her face to Kara's shoulder, that gentle, deadly arm curling around her neck and shoulder blade.

"Being just plain Kara is important to me," fell quietly to Lena's ear. "Being… larger than life is exhausting on so many levels."

To some small extent, Lena could understand that and she nodded against the silky-soft bunched fabric of the cape's attachment. "It was just plain Kara that I liked first. You're very charming. I'll do my best to keep thinking of you like two different people, though I guess that would get a little awkward in conversation."

Alex was sweetly amused at the two of them huddled like children, their heads pressed together. She'd chopped enough veggies to feed six people and they had cooked down a bit, so she poured a dozen and a half beaten eggs over them. 

"I'm so sorry that we left you alone, Lena."

It was nearly the same thing Alex had said and the words meant just as much.

"You had to stop her… them. We all had to. That had to come first. I didn't understand that at first, but I do now. And I honestly don't know that I would have been strong enough to do… what I did, if not for both of you."

"Our pleasure," Kara reassured softly and twisted her head around to call out to her sister. "That smells good, Alex."

"It'll be a few, so conversation will have to sustain you for now."

Alex didn't even bother to turn around and acknowledge the pout. Lena laughed quietly however, particularly when Kara heaved a great, melodramatic sigh.

"Hungry?"

"I'm always hungry. I run like a fighter plane, not a compact car."

That made both Humans laugh.

With Alex busy over breakfast, Kara took it on herself to lean away enough to look at Lena. "How are you holding up?"

It was a question that had been lingering around the corners of Lena's mind now, pressing against the lingering haze of trauma and the care showered on her. "As well as I can, I suppose. It's all going to crash down on me at some point, isn't it?"

Kara twisted her body to get a better hug angle. "Yes. But you won't be alone."

They huddled together until Alex joined them, looking up eagerly and with matched smiles that warmed Alex right through. 

"Sit up, you," she instructed and Lena did so, shivering in the cooler temperatures of the ambient air.

"That's an awful lot of food," was the skeptical comment as she huddled back under the blankets and gawked at Alex setting the hot pan right into Kara's grabby hands. The fluffy mass of egg and vegetables began disappearing at a blur and Lena could only blink.

"You get used to it." With an expert twist of her sinewy length, Alex settled into the corner of the couch and beckoned Lena to come in close. "Come here, babe, we'll share. Eat what you want and feed the rest to the garbage compactor."

Kara didn't even pause in her gorging at the tease.

There were two spoons in the largish serving bowl that the couple set to eating once Lena had eagerly scooted closer. In the end, there wasn't much left to hand off to a pouting Kara, but she polished off the scraps before hopping up and nosing through Alex's kitchen. That left the couple to cuddle for long moments, but Lena could tell that Alex's mind was already split to things more than just her companions.

"It's time to go, isn't it?" Lena asked quietly, both hating the edge of fear in her voice and grateful that she could still feel the emotion so strongly.

Brown eyes blinked back from where they and been staring off to nothing. "Soon. But I want to make sure you're as settled as you can be, okay?"

Again, it stuck Lena, what she had gained in these two. People who genuinely cared about her, despite her name. Wiggling around a bit, she snuggled in more on her side in order to hear Alex's heart and trace a random pattern over her upper chest and collarbones. "I missed you. More than I thought I could. But remembering how safe you make me feel helped get me through. Does that make any sense?"

Guilt swirled in Alex's gut even as she rubbed her cheek against Lena's dark crown.

"I missed you too. Even with more than enough to keep my business mind occupied." Something in Alex's strained tone made Lena tip her head back, soak up the brush of kisses down her forehead and nose. "But I've been… distracted, too."

"I suppose this means we'll have to talk."

There was an edge to Lena's voice, a discomfort they both shared. 

"Yeah. I suppose we will. And I have a dancing date to make up to you."

"Seems a fair exchange."

Then words were forgotten in favor of the best way they knew to communicate, through the fine and well-felt communication of bodies intertwined.

Neither of them even noticed Kara shake her head and fly out the window.

\----

Eventually the quietness around them broke the sensual haze. Lena rubbed at Alex's scalp where her hand was tangled into the reddish strands and she continued to pet and scratch lightly at the small of that sinewy back, relishing how the caresses made Alex's hips twitch.

"I kinda want to stay here," Lena breathed out as she licked playfully at Alex's lips. "But I suppose duty calls."

Clearing her throat roughly and trying to shake some sense into her hormone-soaked brain, Alex nodded jerkily. "Yeah, we probably should. Kara or I will try and stay with you, okay?"

"Thank you, Tiger."

It had been too long since Alex had heard her affectionate nickname and she hugged her girl hard.

Reluctantly, they separated and Alex shooed Lena off to go raid her clothes as she saw fit.

"You're sure?"

"Lee, to be completely honest I'm getting a bit of a thrill from the idea of you in my clothes. Surprise me."

It took some effort to not chase after more kisses after that, but Lena forced herself to turn away from where Alex leaned easily against the kitchen counter.

In the cozy bedroom, her own bra and shoes were set out, her autumn-colored dress neatly folded atop her coat. Stripping off the t-shirt she'd slept in, Lena worked her bra on while eyeing Alex's neatly folded and hung wardrobe. There was a surprising amount of it, somber business wear and stretchy workout gear, stacks of identical blacks that must be a uniform of sorts, since everyone in that building had been dressed along the same lines. It was utilitarian and minimal in colors and shade, but at the far side of the closet, that changed a bit. There was a riot of soft sweaters and knit shirts, t-shirts and henleys and a handful of flannel a baby-soft contrast to the collection of leather jackets. 

For someone newly out of the closet, the woman certainly knew how to dress the part.

Amused by her train of thought, Lena was drawn to the one of the brighter spots of color, delighted to find the slightly baggy rusty-red sweater with the sleeves black from the elbows down. She remembered this one, worn by Alex the day they were actually introduced, not merely strangers brought together by deadly danger. A storage rack revealed tanktops, soft pants and socks, each with their own plastic drawer.

Alex wasn't certain if Lena knew she was watching from the doorway, or just letting her enjoy the show. In her comfortable but still feminine underthings, Lena perused the collection, pulling a black tank on before the red sweater that made Alex smile. It was a new experience, seeing a lover in her clothes. It drove home once more how right this attraction felt, despite the doubts that had plagued her off and on.

"You look better in that than I do."

Lena's smile was a welcome one, sly and sweet, beating back the shadows clinging to her for the moment. There was no resisting striding over and kissing that smile, Alex running her hands over Lena's belly and around to her back, swallowing up that low, sexy note of reaction to her touch. They were lust and comfort and a hundred other things neither was quite ready to put names to.

"Flatterer," Lena murmured throatily as the kiss wound down, leaving then wrapped around one another again, the bed a heavy temptation. "Could we come back here later?"

Realizing how pushy that sounded, Lena's eyes rounded and she tried to apologize, the sound cut off by a hard kiss.

"Yes," Alex murmured softly. "You're welcome here. Now give me five to get ready."

With a speed borne of long practice, Alex was halfway into her uniform blacks before she had even walked into the bathroom. Lena was slipping into her own heels when Alex's voice floated out of the bathroom.

"You were pretty shell-shocked when you arrived at my building yesterday. Did the police treat you well?"

The reminder of the day before sobered Lena immediately. She hated the way she felt about it, what she had been forced to do, but at least in this intimate space she could start getting used to the idea of talking it out, of absorbing it into her whole.

"I, uh, don't really remember the police station too clearly. None of them were real happy to see me, not that I can blame them. But eventually there was a woman who yelled them out of the room. I remember her from the attack on my building, that cyborg shot her and she was in a sling. Small woman, filled up the room though. She was remarkably nice. Notably so. Didn't she come with to your building?"

The quiet from the bathroom was notable, as was Alex's expression when she stepped back into the room. She looked conflicted, nervous, even torn. The next words barely even shocked Lena.

"…That was… uh, Maggie."

Because of course that nice detective was the woman who had broken Alex's heart and left her still conflicted.

"Oh. Well, I get why you like her then."

It was not at all the reaction Alex had been expecting, Lena's voice almost uncaring, as though it mattered little. Stepping close, she cupped that dramatic jaw in her strong hands and waited while green eyes settled on her own.

"Hey, I know we're really new and I have no idea what's in store for us, but I want you to know that this isn't casual. Not to me."

Pleasantly startled at the heartfelt words, Lena soaked up the intensity broken up by the little nose-scrunch that Alex pulled, for all the world looking like an adorably flustered toddler. Leaning in, Lena pressed her mouth to that little crumple, feeling Alex's eyelashes flutter against her lips.

"Not to me either."


	12. Exhausted but Moving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena marveled at how much she didn't know about these people. Harmlessly nerdy Winn who she had spent several game nights boring the others with yammering on about video games, standing next to Kara in her heroic Supergirl suit and weird Mike of the Interns slowly coming to on a complicated looking diagnostic bed. Even as he woke and his bleary questioning his own mortality gently amused the others, Lena realized… that he was an alien too. Which was only a shock in that there were so many of them…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So can anyone figure out the line that pretty much set this whole chapter in motion? >chuckle

Traffic had cleared and a Lyft driver was close by, so the pair made good time back to the DEO building. The moment the two women stepped onto the curb at the foot of the skyscraper, Lena marveled at the instant change that fell over Alex as the mantle of her role fell slid into place.

She had no problem internally admitting that it was sexy as hell.

With a hand a Lena's elbow, Alex escorted her into the building and they breezed through security checkpoints, a visitor's badge waiting by the time they reached the right floor. Even as Lena was clipping the badge to her collar, a woman's voice called out.

"Alex! Come on, I have good news!"

It was the lab-coated blonde Lena vaguely remembered, gesturing them over with a huge grin. For a long moment Alex waffled on complying with her mother's call, but gave in when she remembered that the doorway Eliza stood in was where a low-risk recovery area was set up. Sure enough, Kara and Winn were already there, standing over Mon-El, who was just stirring.

Lena marveled at how much she didn't know about these people. Harmlessly nerdy Winn who she had spent several game nights boring the others with yammering on about video games, standing next to Kara in her heroic Supergirl suit and weird Mike of the Interns slowly coming to on a complicated looking diagnostic bed. Even as he woke and his bleary questioning his own mortality gently amused the others, Lena realized… that he was an alien too. Which was only a shock in that there were so many of them…

Alex's hand coming to rest warm and open at the small of her back made Lena jump a bit. Even as she looked over, once again getting lost in those deep, dark eyes, Eliza's voice caught at the edges of their attention. 

"We were able to reverse engineer a cure from a living sample of the virus."

It was confirmation that Mike/Mon-El had been one of the victims of the Medusa Virus, making Lena swallow hard and Alex to pour the hug she couldn't give into the soft look in her eyes. Neither was even aware of the long look traded between mother and adopted daughter.

Winn jumped into the slightly awkward silence that had fallen, his voice weary but straining for enthusiasm. "And when Eliza says 'we,' she really means 'she'. But I watched enthusiastically."

His efforts paid off and the four women chuckled in amusement, lightening the mood and bringing Alex and Lena's attention back to the proceedings.

"While this is good news, it gets even better," Eliza enthused with a wide smile. "The Medusa virus was so easily weaponized I was able to turn it against a common enemy; J'onn's White Martian blood cells."

There was a part of Lena that flinched at the sight of J'onn standing there in all of his Green Martian glory, a proud figure in his exotic armored garb of black and metallic red, cape trailing elegantly behind him. Utterly delighted, Kara called out, "J'onn! You look great!"

Crackling red energy sparked over his form, morphing him into his Human self that Lena recognized and he accepted a hug from the woman the others had called Eliza.

"I feel great," he enthused warmly and looked with utter fondness at his savior. "Thank you, Eliza."

"My pleasure."

Something sank in to Lena's mind in that moment. J'onn really hadn't changed all that much. In his human face, she could see the Martian features briefly seen… and his smile was the same. The others were authentically delighted to see him, Alex relieved and cheered at her side. In this very room, Lena was faced with three different people from distant worlds she would never see and all of the paranoia ground into her from the family she had lost… was proven false.

When Alex's hand prodded coaxingly at Lena's back, she allowed herself to be drawn over. Clearly nervous, nonetheless Lena only hesitated a moment in taking the big hand offered.

"We haven't been formally introduced. I am J'onn J'onzz, the last son of Mars."

"Lena Luthor, apparently the last of my clan left standing. It's good to meet you under better circumstances, sir."

Perhaps the formality wasn't necessary, but Lena appreciated respect when it was earned. And her respect had certainly been earned. Alex and Eliza watched the interaction silently, sharing a happy glance. J'onn too was pleased. This woman had every reason to hate and fear him and, while still clearly nervous, she nonetheless looked him in the eye and was plainly ready to be as open-minded as possible.

He could respect that.

"I have a quiet place we can sit and talk."

With a little fuss and confusion, Alex and Lena followed J'onn, tailed by a faintly unnerved-looking Kara after she had spoken with Mike. Not feeling so fuzzy and in shock as she had the day before, Lena was far more curious about her surroundings. The open space on the floor below was clearly some sort of command center with banks of computer monitors and a steady stream of black-garbed agents bustling to and fro. Lena had no realistic hopes for a tour, so she soaked up what scraps of information she could glean.

"I'm gratified that you already know my second in command and Supergirl," J'onn spoke up again as he drew the others in his wake into a cramped space that might have been some sort of office. Alex was clearly startled and pleased at the recognition, not quite preening. "I trust their judgment implicitly."

"So do I, Director J'onzz."

Lena's replied was sighed out as she sank into one of the two chairs in the room, feeling the lingering exhaustion of too many nights of terrible sleep and the emotional storms weathered. Sitting opposite her, J'onn put on his best serious face.

"With your permission I would like to read your mind to verify your sincerity in context to our organization."

It said something about how worn down all of the recent shocks had left Lena when she merely tilted her head at him curiously for a moment. Then she looked over at the anxious sisters. "Is that very common?"

"No," they said in tandem and Alex picked up the thread. 

"It was only last year I found out he even had that little talent. It's painless and he's generally very respectful, hence the asking."

After a moment staring inscrutably at the sisters, Lena returned her attention to a patient J'onn. "The trust goes both ways. There is plenty in my head I would rather not be known by anyone outside of very carefully controlled circumstances. Some of it dangerous and all of it expensive."

"That's fair. But only if you're certain." J'onn replied and Lena was struck by the subtle note of concern in his deep voice. Really, she was never going to get used to all these people giving a crap about her. She hoped she never took it for granted.

"With Alex and Kara Danvers standing witness, I am in my right mind and give you permission to verify that my intentions are in line with your organization."

The dark eyes had drifted part way through her speech and Lena fought sighing in amused aggravation at how he narrowed his eyes at the sisters. Then she noticed Kara squirming like a guilty toddler when faced with the loving wrath of a parent. Alex didn't look much better.

"It was an accident?" Kara said with a lilt of question in clear hope that she could mitigate how much trouble she was in. The contrast of the squirmy body language to the dramatic supersuit and Alex rubbing the bridge of her nose was too much for Lena.

She started laughing.

It was that unfettered sound of warm delight that sold J'onn on Lena's intentions at least as much as the brush of his mind through hers. 

"We'll talk about this later, Supergirl. Very well, Miss Luthor, I agree that any sensitive information that I may stumble across, so long as it does not involve national or world security, will remain between the two of us. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Lena echoed back, her voice strong and decisive even as her smile never completely faded.

The woman's mind was a busy jumble of memories and trains of thought like rivers winding down a mountainside, chaotic yet organized. Some of the things L-Corp had squirreled away or was secretly working on intrigued him, some of them potentially alarming, and the information was noted for future conversations. There were abuses and neglects and fears and determination and hope mixed in with the very real drive this woman had to make up for some of the darkness that would never stop hounding her.

While he searched, J'onn talked about the basics of what the DEO was, things covered by the non-disclosure papers she would be signing anyway. Even early in the silent search of his mind into hers, J'onn believed her intentions were good, watched her curious eyes closely as they watched him in turn, the color of healthy growing things and wet sand.

Of course, it was inevitable that he stumbled into something he really rather he hadn't, as always seemed to be the case with these delightful, chaotic Humans. His wince and the way his eyes jerked spastically over to Alex gave him away, dissolving Lena into girlish giggling. The change in mood jerked Kara from a bored half-doze and she looked around at her companions curiously, wondering what she had missed.

There was no getting Lena's focus back completely at that point, though she did try. Still, a second time, J'onn found himself embarrassed all over again.

"Oh that one didn't really happen," Lena said slyly and shot Alex a mischievous look. "At least not yet." Alex flushed rosy and J'onn just rubbed his face in amused resignation while Kara just stared at her sister. 

And Lena kept doing it, mind wandering off to carnal distractions and giggling her head off, which J'onn found bizarrely charming. Particularly as the behavior stood in stark contrast to the lingering trauma bright in her memories. J'onn made a note to do his damnest to ensure that Lillian Luthor stayed locked up deep in the caves beneath the desert.

"Are you doing this on purpose, Miss Luthor?" he finally had to tease dryly and was completely amused at how she waved one hand around breezily.

"You're trawling around in my filthy memories of your second in command, J'onn. I think you can call me Lena."

That finally earned a huff of amusement from J'onn, startling the sisters where they were standing by in an embarrassed silence.

Cracking up, Lena leaned over to brace herself against her knees, waving away helping hands. "Sorry, sorry, I keep getting distracted. I'll focus, I promise. Kara, shoo your sister out, won't you?"

"Brat," Alex sighed affectionately and they shared a long look before the elder Danvers strode out.

That there was something between them had been obvious in the way Alex's hand had rested on Lena's back, how they had clung to one another the day before. And while J'onn really didn't need to know just how much 'something' was between them, he was happy for both. Alex had been too lonely for too long. That she found herself someone so problematic didn't surprise him. 

At all.

Besides, the relationship would completely unnerve Kal-El. That should prove to be amusing.

J'onn wasn't worried about Alex's leaving as he had seen enough of Lena's mind to vet her with reasonable comfort to his protective instincts. Kara stayed, still fidgety over once again breaking her secret identity with an outsider. And there would be no sleight of hand tricks with this woman as he had participated in with Cat Grant.

"You are an intriguing individual, Lena."

The unexpected comment snapped her wandering attention back, the green eyes once more alert and focused. "I'll take the compliment, as you've probably seen more of me now than anyone."

The humor in her was calmed now, but so was most of her deeply-rooted antagonism. Only a simple case of nerves bothered her currently, and that was more the immediate situation than his presence. Reaching into the desk, J'onn pulled out a tablet to hand over. "This is a fairly standard non-disclosure agreement, which I'm quite certain you realize is merely a formality at this point. But it's an intelligent formality that also covers anything sensitive that I learned about you. That said, you have a few things stored up in that busy mind of yours that I'm very curious about. But that will wait for later."

"Fair enough," Lena agreed easily and settled back in her chair to read while J'onn glared gently at Kara. Thankfully it was a surprisingly succinct document and Lena spoke Legalese better than most lawyers from a lifetime of practice. With a few strokes of stylus to glass and the press of her thumb to the indicated square, she signed it and handed the tablet to J'onn to do the same.

"Good. Now, with that done, let's see what the DEO can do to ensure your safety, Lena."

It wouldn't be until much, much later that Lena would realize that she had been in a small, enclosed space with two incredibly powerful aliens, completely alone. 

And not once had she felt afraid.


	13. Shifting Loyalties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trapping the longest strands of her bobbed hair high on her skull, Alex prowled the apartment restlessly while her thoughts rattled around. She was jittery and exhilarated from emotions she didn't dare look at too closely. It was too goddamn soon to feel so… enamored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit it, I almost left off the final line for the next chapter, to be a mean cliffhanger. But I still believe that it sounds best this way. <3

After assisting her mother in checking a distracted Mon-El over and shooing him off for some real sleep, the Danvers women poured over finalizing all of the rushed research that had gone into the Medusa Virus. There was nothing they could do to protect small attacks like the one at the Dollywood bar, but a widespread attack would never be viable again.

A hard-won victory for the good guys.

"You look exhausted, Mom."

Brought up from her tired slump at the computer, Eliza nodded in agreement to Alex's gentle observation. "It's been a long day and a half. Worth it."

As though conjured up by the comment, J'onn and Kara came in with a weary Lena and a concerned Winn in tow. It was very telling how the youngest Luthor swayed immediately to Alex, bringing herself up short with real effort. Hating the distance, but knowing it was necessary, Alex cupped her elbow, drawing Lena over to sit so that same hand could rest near the slope of her bent neck.

No matter the careful neutrality of the touches, there was an intimacy to them that confirmed what Eliza had already suspected. Alex's mysterious 'Lee' was no less than Lena Luthor herself. It was problematic and perversely amusing. Kara gave Lena's other shoulder a warm squeeze that made Lena look up and return the weary smile. There was a bond there too, and Eliza would trust the judgment of her daughters.

"You good, Lena?" Kara inquired gently and Lena nodded.

"I will be, I think."

There was a lot of layers to the statement.

J'onn spoke into the charged quiet. "We were speaking about Hank Henshaw remaining a danger to Lena. He is a remarkably tenacious individual and I'd rather not use you as bait."

There was no disguising the fear that flashed through Alex's eyes or the way Lena leaned into her touch.

"It seems to me the only logical choice is to get you out of town. Agent Danvers, I'm charging you with her safety. We've also come to the agreement that placing several agents in undercover positions at L-Corp is a wise move. While Cadmus had no direct connections there, they've stolen from the company before."

Lena nodded against the hands she was using to hold up her heavy head. "I managed to trace their hack and find out about the Medusa Virus in the first place. And assets have disappeared since… since Lex was convicted… that I can't account for. Not to mention a great deal of the family fortune."

No one commented on how her voice caught at the mention of her brother.

\----

An official phone call from the 'FBI' earned pure suspicion from Jess, but Supergirl tapping at her window was convincing enough that they were on the up and up. Despite the late evening hour, she agreed to a quick flight from the superhero and arrived at the DEO building flushed and exhilarated. Near the ground floor, where security was more discrete and there was little to worry about prying eyes accidentally seeing, the Danvers sisters and the women of L-Corp hatched a plan.

"Can the company really function for a week or more without you?" Kara asked, doing her best to keep her Supergirl persona intact to prevent Jess from becoming any more curious than she already was. "You've been very hands on all this time."

With a tiredly uncaring hand wave none of them really bought, Lena smiled faintly at her. "Oh, my vanishing for more than a workday will set my hard work back by months or worse. But this will keep everyone safer from that cyborg maniac. And none of the board or shareholders will fight too hard the rumors that I've had some manner of nervous breakdown. Frankly, I'm probably long overdue."

None of them liked her resignation to the whole thing. Lena Luthor was a fighter. Jess looked up from where she was tapping busily at her laptop, her face determined. "I'll do all that I can to keep things together, Miss Luthor."

To her shock, Lena reached over to give her wrist a little squeeze. "Thank you, Jess. You're a gift, truly."

Clearly pleased with the compliment, Jess finished up with a flourish and nodded smartly. "Okay, I've got it. There's a chartered plane being cycled into service for a flight to Honolulu, Hawaii in about ten hours. It will take that long to get the plane checked over and ready to fly, as well as the pilots to get their mandated rest."

At that moment, Susan stepped into the room with Winn in tow. "Kyra's willing to accompany us, ma'am. I should head out to get us ready to go."

Immediately transferring her attention to her coworker, Alex nodded smartly. "Sounds good. Come and pick us up in about seven hours. That should give us plenty of time to get ready ourselves."

"Yes ma'am."

With typical puppyish flirting, Winn arranged with Jess to have any information she needed to get to Lena to funnel through the 'FBI' servers to keep her location as hidden as possible. While they talked, Lena sighed and smiled tiredly at the Danvers sisters.

"I suppose I best head home myself and get packed."

"No way," Kara chimed up before Alex could do more than open her mouth. "You make me a list and I'll do it. You are not leaving Agent Danvers' sight."

Knowing that the trip would also be a romantic vacation of sorts for the new couple, all the cloak and dagger for Jess' benefit was pretty funny.

"You got it, Supergirl. I promise not to leave Agent Danvers' sight," Lena agreed with a seriousness that edged into smartass territory by the note of amusement in her tone.

Once they wrapped up preparations, Kara whisked Jess away to return her home, Lena's list clutched in her fist. Alex and Lena looked wryly at one another and had a good laugh at the sheer absurdity they had found themselves in. 

Exhausted from crown to toe, they were happy to put the DEO building behind them and catch a cab back to Alex's place. The moment the deadbolt snicked home, Alex was not surprised to find herself wrapped up in a heavy hug. The hot, ardent kiss was a pleasant surprise though. Lena hummed sensually into the kiss, ruffling up Alex's neat fall of hair and clutching close to her strong frame.

"Take me to bed, Tiger."

Despite the mental countdown getting close to six hours before Susan swung by to pick them up, despite knowing Kara would be dropping in with Lena's things, despite not a damn thing of her own packed for a long trip and no damn clue where she even had a duffel bag… Despite all of that, Alex could not turn away her lover's attention and need.

Clumsy and a little giggly, they fumbled their way into the bedroom-- where Alex made sure to firmly shut the door-- and slowly stripped one another.

"I never expected to miss you so much," Alex murmured as she trailed caresses over Lena's exposed collarbones, relishing the brush of that Romanesque nose against her scalp. Just breathing the scents of her, wallowing in her touch, Lena felt like maybe, just maybe she could feel the last of the harsh separation bleed away.

"I never expected to miss you so much either."

There was a new timbre to the harmony they created together, the tangle of their naked bodies in Alex's tousled sheets. Languid and quiet, they touched and tasted, far more interested in getting to know one another again than chasing hard after the brass ring.

Teetering between the heat in her body and the pull of much-needed sleep, Lena was raw and vulnerable, her eyes liquid and dark as she held Alex's gaze. It was an intimacy that ensnared Alex utterly, reassured her again that she had never really been truly broken, just waiting for the right time.

"Lee," she reassured softly, barely shifting the fingers buried warmly in Lena's slack body, her thumb tracing lazy circles around her clit. "I've got you, sweetheart."

"Al…"

It was as much a sob as a coherent syllable, fingernails rasping weakly at Alex's red hair. The orgasm was a slow roll of sensation rather than a hard jolt and Alex marveled at the difference in Lena's tired body, the clench of her muscles in sync with the breathy little noises that trailed off to a low moan. Those enticing eyes were bare slits, awash in unshed tears.

"Sleep," Alex whispered, settling her weight gently half atop her lover and pressing soft kisses to her eyelids. "I'll be close."

Mumbling incoherently, Lena slipped away, her body growing truly boneless and her breathing evening out. It occurred to Alex that these moments were perhaps the best part of having a lover, these vulnerable times of walls down, open trust written in every fiber of Lena's somnolent body. Had Lena watched her sleep? Did she too feel this pull of connection that somehow seemed even stronger in these defenseless moments?

As restless as always, and thrumming a bit with her own simmering arousal, Alex carefully slipped away from Lena's warmth and ensured that the covers were tucked around her warmly. She quietly dug out some comfortable loungey clothing to pull on, leaving out another set on the bed for whenever Lena woke.

In the bathroom, she washed up and stared at her reflection in the mirror. It was hard to tell if she looked terrified or smitten and Alex almost chuckled at the wry face her reflection pulled. Internally grumbling about how long her damn hair had grown out, she grabbed a clip and slipped out the bedroom with a long look at her sleeping lover.

Trapping the longest strands of her bobbed hair high on her skull, Alex prowled the apartment restlessly while her thoughts rattled around. She was jittery and exhilarated from emotions she didn't dare look at too closely. It was too goddamn soon to feel so… enamored. 

When she spotted the quartet of matched luggage set neatly at the foot of the window Kara favored, mortified embarrassment froze her still. Because of course her little sister had dropped in while they'd been fooling around on the other side of the bedroom wall.

The bottle of bourbon came out after that.

Alex had no idea how long she sat there and did her best to clear her mind, the burn of strong liquor calming her nerves. Maybe she'd actually be able to get some sleep…

The knock at her door startled her mid-sip.

Right on the heels of paranoid reflex was the calming thought that the sort of riff-raff she normally dealt with weren't really the polite knocking sort. Still, there were plenty of run of the mill riff-raff, so she grabbed her gun where it was habitually stashed in the cushions of that ugly chair she hated and peered through the peephole.

Maggie bearing a smile and a pizza box was not at all what she had been expecting.

"Hey," the smaller woman greeted her softly when the door swung open "Hungry?"

It was good to see her, especially away from the stresses of the DEO and Alex found herself smiling warmly and gesturing Maggie in. "Yes. Come in, please. Ignore the pajamas."

"No, they're cute."

Drawn to the prospect of something in her empty belly, Alex was drawn to the savory smelling food, pulling open the lid to sniff even as she rambled on. "It's late. You got a case or something? Oh, god, I would almost welcome a good old-fashioned murder right now."

"No, I didn't come here for work. I just… I really needed to see you and talk to you."

It was only then that Alex realized that something was bothering Maggie, her voice faintly jittery, echoed in the nervous movements of her hands.

"Is everything okay?"

Busying herself with a couple of the beers in the six-pack that had been brought in with the pizza, Alex gave the rest of her attention to whatever Maggie needed to say. It took a moment of hemming and hawing, but she got herself talking again. "Well, here's the thing. I… I almost died."

"Uh, yeah. No, I would not have let that happen," Alex scoffed, but she remembered all too clearly how worried she had been after the attack. There had been no alleviating her worry until she had gotten her own two hands on Maggie, stitching up the wound that barely seemed to be bothering her anymore.

"I know that, but, um… It got me thinking that I… I was so stupid. I thought that-- and I guess I was kind of right-- that you came out for me."

That finally got Alex's absolute attention, bringing her head around to stare almost warily at this friend who had almost been so much more.

"And that scared me," Maggie continued on doggedly, turning away to take a few steps before facing Alex once more. "But, um… life is too short. And we should be who we are. And we should kiss the girls that we want to kiss." There it was again, that energy between them that had seduced Alex in the first place and she was both ensnared and terrified. "And I really just… I want to kiss you."

All those months ago, Alex had been unable to rein in the suffocating volcano of feeling this woman had slowly awoken in her. She had thrown caution to the wind, cupped her sweet, smiling face in her own two hands and kissed her with everything in her very confused heart. 

Being on the receiving end of that was every bit as earth shattering as she could have imagined.

Too shocked to move, Alex soaked up those strong calloused hands on her jaw and neck, the warmth of Maggie's lips on her own. This is what she had not gotten before, this full participation, this open invitation from this force of nature she had learned to like so much. 

Who she remained so conflicted over, even now.

"So, you're saying, you like me. That's--," Alex chuckled breathlessly, caught up in the moment. "That's what I got."

For an endless moment, the possibilities were endless and Maggie chuckled, sweetly shy. "Of course. You're not gonna go crazy on me, are you?"

"Probably," Alex teased back, her heart on her sleeve even as reality was pressing back in against her. 

Some part of Alex would never forgive herself for going in for another taste. It was wrong and she knew it. She reveled in the illicit moment for just a few heartbeats more before pulling away, stroking Maggie's cheeks with her thumbs.

"But I can't do this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter and then on to the Revenge of Sequel! I still have more to say about these lovlies, oh yes!


	14. Promises Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nice Detective Maggie was not who she had expected. And it didn't take a genius to figure out some of the awkward high energy in the room. In that moment, Lena suddenly realized that she didn't want to give Alex up. Maybe ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In researching Alex's apartment, I seem to have picked up a bit of a fascination with that big, gray island countertop…
> 
> So, this first scene with Alex and Maggie was written some time ago and I had to write towards it if that makes any sense. It changed very little and gave me a solid goal to work towards. The stuff that happens afterward was more impulsive and hopefully not too jarring in emotional shifts. I do love writing for intense people!

It took a moment for the change in mood to hit Maggie, her eyes widening. From wariness to adoration to this wounded regret, Alex expressive eyes spoke so much more clearly than mere words.

"You… found someone." It wasn't a question.

Wincing, Alex nodded, jerking her head towards the back of the apartment. "She's sleeping. It's been a rough few days."

Maggie hadn't wanted to listen to the reasonable little voice in her head that had warned her when she watched Alex so tenderly help out their traumatized charge the night before. She had never been very good at listening to that reasonable little voice when it came to women.

"Luthor," she said simply, voice flat, and Alex flinched, dropping back onto her seat.

"I didn't expect her. I was hurting so much from the emotional car bomb that we both got caught up in and I ran and you got left behind and I had no outlet. I felt so… I dunno, pummeled? Helpless? By all these feelings, when there had only ever been numbness and I was so messed up and terrified. Can't say I blame you for avoiding that."

"I would have been there for you!" The helpless anger in Maggie's voice made Alex cringe again.

"I know. But I couldn't ask. I couldn't let myself be vulnerable like that. I could barely talk to Kara, for fuck sake." Taking a deep breath and rubbing an agitated hand over her face, Alex blew out a hard breath and grabbed her glass to toss down the finger of bourbon in the bottom. More calm then, she pressed on, voice soft.

"So, suddenly, there's this flirty, beautiful stranger dropped in my path because Kara can befriend anyone it seems, and invited her to game night. And she a little dangerous and sorta exotic and so, so different to anyone I've ever known. And unlike me surprising the hell out of you with that sniper kiss-- really sorry about that by the way-- she's coaxing and nice and asks and asks if what we're doing is okay. And then, there's this long sexy weekend at this ridiculously romantic, gorgeous spot on the ocean in Santa Barbara and it turns out I really am as big a sap as Kara always knew I could be." The dry humor almost coaxed a smile from the stunned Maggie. "And to my complete shock, I really like her. She's smart and funny and sweet and respectful, nothing at all like you'd expect her day job persona or her family reputation, but neither am I, so I get it. And I have no idea if it's love, or forever, or next week or even over, because clearly I'm sucking in the sorting out my own feelings department." 

Exhausted from the emotional outpouring, Alex deflated, pressing her forehead to the glass cradled in her hands.

"Wow," Maggie said helplessly, torn between truly wanting the best for this amazing woman and internally weeping with the unfairness of it all. Alex's gaze was open and vulnerable when she turned her head.

"I really am sorry how all this played out."

And Alex was, the regret hot and choking. Maggie just stood frozen for a long moment more and then nodded sharply. "Me too. I… I should go."

The words were an echo of their first kiss so long ago, all that confused pain rushing back, the tables turned. And as Maggie had once watched helplessly as Alex ran with her heart in tatters, so Alex watched Maggie draw herself together as best she could, eyes darting around for an escape.

When her gaze snapped into laser focus across the room and widened, Alex whipped around, already knowing what had changed. 

Months ago, when Alex had first met Lena during that surprise visit at Kara's apartment, she had worn that same flat look. That she was wearing the same sweater Alex herself had been wearing that afternoon was perversely amusing. The silent glare was menace and guardedness, now mixed with a certain flinty edge of possessiveness that gave Alex an unexpected thrill.

"Maggie," she said simply, the authoritative whip crack no less effective for its softness.

"Lena," Maggie said back softly, recognizing the power play and respecting it, because she knew the vulnerability hiding beneath the power. She had been on both sides of confrontations like this before. They hurt.

They hurt everyone.

Quietly, Maggie took the only decent out she had, walking out the front door. The click of the door latch was loud in the quiet, as was the deadbolt when Lena went over to throw it. She had woken to muffled voices, figuring it was Kara, and lazily crawled into the red and black sweater she was so stealing and the soft pants left out for her.

Nice Detective Maggie was not who she had expected. And it didn't take a genius to figure out some of the awkward high energy in the room. In that moment, Lena suddenly realized that she didn't want to give Alex up. Maybe ever.

Still, she had a mean streak that she would never completely shake.

"You were tempted," Lena said flatly, the words making Alex visibly flinch.

"I was."

There was something so defeated in the hunch of her body, waiting for the blow to land. The urge to be cruel bled away and Lena walked over to lay a gentle hand on that bowed spine. Alex shrank away as though the expected blow had indeed been struck.

"Alex, turn around."

That name was never used lightly and they both knew it. Swallowing hard, Alex swiveled around on the stool but couldn't bring herself to look above Lena's clavicles.

She barely got a chance to suck in a quick breath as Lena pressed close to kiss her, hard and urgent, forcing Alex's body to unbow as the counter dug into her back. Still, Lena pushed, straining Alex's neck, halfway climbing into her lap, both of them bracing themselves against the counter that dug mercilessly into Alex's back. The aggressive, biting kisses made Alex's head spin, weak against the onslaught, whimpering as Lena almost growled at her.

"Y'know, I'm having a difficult time reining in my more possessive instincts," was a harsh, deep hiss before Lena deflated, gentled, rested her forehead against Alex's chin and her voice became a bare whisper. "I don't want to lose you…"

Head still spinning from the shifts in mood all around her, Alex tilted her head forward to rest their skulls together. Adjusting her elbows where they braced her upper body on the countertop, she got one arm free to press her fingers to the base of her lover's neck in a loose hug.

"I…" her voice cracked spectacularly and Alex was pretty sure Lena huffed in amusement. "I have some emotional baggage to deal with," the faint disgust in her voice was palpable, "but I like who I am with you, who we are together. I'm yours if you'll have me."

It was a heavy moment, a weighty offering that grounded both women. Pressing a lingering kiss to Alex's chin, Lena straightened up and met those deep, dark eyes.

"Me too." It wasn't nearly an adequate reply and Lena made an aggrieved noise that brought on a quirk of vulnerable smile on Alex's beautiful face. "That there's an airport's worth of baggage and so, so much we haven't talked out and negotiated, but I love how I feel around you and you're so inspirational and kind and…" Her voice trailed off helplessly, those green eyes dark and vulnerable.

Alex knew what it was like to not have the words, to feel the press of concept like a physical thing that needed escape and having no voice for it.

"Show me," she whispered and soaked up how Lena shuddered against her. The kisses were slower, gentler this time, but no less needy and possessive. When Lena ranged further afield, Alex merely leaned her head back trustingly, once more sprawling back on both elbows. The ache of the edge of the counter pressing into the blooming stripe of bruise already painted across her back felt good somehow, pain and pleasure and penance all stirred together. For all her confusion in loyalties minutes ago, she was completely present now, utterly caught up in her lover's intoxicating touch.

"Lena," she breathed out softly, the very picture of surrender, of offering. Lena was by no means immune to the display, mouthing at that elegant neck, her hands slipping possessively beneath the loose knit shirt. Little bites at her skin were delicious contrast to warm breath, soft palms and sharp nails a seductive anchor not to be taken for granted. When Lena ran out of bare skin at the scoop neck of Alex's shirt, she decided that she was still unsettled enough at Maggie's unexpected presence earlier to be pushy. So she gave Alex's excited nipples a tweak and stepped back.

"Up. Get your ass up on that counter."

Blinking for a moment, Alex finally got her brain working enough to tilt her head enquiringly, but did as ordered. With an impressive show of dexterity and strength she hoisted herself up to sit on the counter and smiled shyly. The contrasts of her were endlessly enticing and Lena stepped in close to cling close to that strong body and tilt her head up for a slow kiss.

"Trust me," she said softly against Alex's lips, half imploring and half demanding, getting a nod in response. "Lie back, I can't wait another moment to have you." 

Already dropped back onto her elbows, Alex paused at the naughtiness of it all. She was sprawled out on her kitchen counter for fuck sake! Then Lena flipped up the trailing edge of her shirt and pressed hot, open-mouthed kisses to her belly and propriety was quickly fading away. With a little mutual blind maneuvering, Alex had a barstool under each bare foot and Lena's mouth wandered lower and lower until she bit the elastic waistband of the pajama bottoms to snap them against Alex's abdomen.

"Bring your hips up, baby."

There was no turning back now, Alex stripped bare from the waist down, her shirt rucked up to her tits, her lover nipping and licking her way lower and lower.

"Grab that counter edge and hang on," Lena growled against the tickle of dark hairs and Alex only whined a high-pitched note of need. They were a beautiful, obscene tableau, Alex stretched out like a sacrifice, writhing against the hard, cold surface, Lena hunched over her like a hungry predator, feasting. There was nothing gentle about the fucking, Lena determined to suck every last drop of silky wet from her lover's body, hanging onto those powerful thighs and watching the waves of pleasure flex through the stretched plains of her body.

It didn't take long for Alex to find herself left mindless, crying and grunting through a hard series of orgasms until she was a spent, sweaty wreck. Pleased with her work, Lena stood and licked her chops, sauntering into the kitchen to calmly get herself a glass of water while her lover panted and pried her aching fingers from their death grip around the edge of the counter. Alex managed to lazily get her feet braced on the stools and drag her arms down to rest at her sides, hands splayed on her naked belly.

The silent 'MINE' was still loud in the room.

"This counter is cold," she suddenly commented placidly and Lena chuckled, approaching to lean over her relaxed lover.

"But sturdy."

Lena's lips were cold from the water, but warmed quickly as they kissed upside-down. 

"So, let's get the hell out of here and decompress, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm up, I'm up."

Still shaky, Alex managed to sit up, wincing at the cold counter on over-sensitive parts of her anatomy and flexing feeling back into her legs. Smirking, Lena went to her luggage and unzipped them to take quick stock. By the time Alex was upright and self-consciously clutching her discarded pants to her belly, Lena was already weeding out much of what had been delivered, shaking her head in exasperated affection.

"I think Kara must have gotten scandalized because it looks like she upended my entire lingerie drawer into this thing, but I haven't seen a single sock."

Alex was a little overwhelmed by all the silky, lacy things and swallowed hard. "There's a… a lot of it."

"I do like my girlie trappings, what can I say."

Standing from her sorting the bags, Lena kissed Alex hard, smoothing a hand over that naked hip.

"I can't complain about teasing you with it. Since you seem so enticed. Later though, we're going to run out of time and I doubt you want Agent Vasquez showing up with you bare assed and flustered."

That got Alex moving in a hurry.

After a brutally quick shower, the women traded places. Alex got half dressed and pawed through her clothes to pull out things that seemed appropriate for a week or more in a tropical climate. Remembering the riot of fancy lingerie, she left her most utilitarian underwear and anything getting a little worn out. It didn't leave as much as she'd like, but maybe she could talk her rich girlfriend into a shopping trip. 

That thought brought Alex up short.

The matched set of luggage lay open across her bed, neatly sorted and little more than half full. The rich fabrics and expensive materials were a microcosm of the difference in caste, so to speak. While Alex had never been less than a solid white-collar citizen, she'd never gotten closer to the 1% than what her badge could accomplish. 

Shaking off the weird sense of something not quite unease, she tucked her things into the empty spaces alongside Lena's, soothed by the intimacy of it. There was a notable lack of casual and comfy, so she tossed in enough for both of them. And extra socks. 

With Lena still busy in the bathroom getting herself ready, Alex grabbed a few pieces of her own finery, slipping them into the garment bag. It took her only a few minutes to quickly get dressed and made up, her hands familiar with the task being done in a rush, where a mirror was a luxury she didn't have.

Both lovers were pleasantly startled to see the other in their best corporate/agent finery. 

"You clean up nice, Agent Tiger," Lena complimented warmly, smoothing her hands over the lapels of Alex's fitted black blazer and the silky white blouse beneath. She felt drab beside Lena's crushed silk shirt in a blood red and elegant high-waisted camel slacks.

"Well, I figured I'd best give you my presidential best."

"You met the president?" Lena was startled and Alex enjoyed having a bit of bragging rights.

"I did. She came through the DEO before signing the Alien Amnesty Act this last summer."

Sidling in close, Alex wrapped her arms around Lena, wanting a more involved kiss than she dared go for, both of them with their painted game faces on. "I look forward to mussing you up later," she murmured against Lena's mouth, demure rosy pink brushing blood red.

Then, Alex's phone was ringing and it was time to set out on their next adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you in the next sequel!


End file.
